Jasper van Duuren: We are more entrepreneurs than truckers

We talk to Jasper van Duuren on February 25th, the day after Russia invaded Ukraine. We cannot ignore it. As an European player, Van Duuren is concerned. “We have both Russian and Ukrainian employees. They are friends. I would have never expected that we would experience this again.” Fortunately, there are also reasons for optimism. During the past two years, my son Sven has settled in well. Ready for the next step.

The fifth generation of Van Duuren is warming up. “Now that I think about it, we are a lot alike. Sven also has that analytical approach. I have a business economics-finance background, Sven studied IBA (International Business Administration) at Erasmus University in Rotterdam.
He also has a master’s degree in supply chain management. That is of course an extension of each other.” Jasper tries to keep business and private affairs separate. “Sven sometimes says: ‘You almost pushed us out of the business.’ As if it wasn’t allowed.
But this was, of course, because in my father’s life, business and private were completely intertwined. that is, the business always came first. Always. I wanted to protect Sven from that.” Jasper van Duuren is two and a half years younger than his brother Jeroen, “And you can see that, haha.”

The two are complementary. Jeroen the external contacts, Jasper the internal process. Alpha and beta. If you speak to Jasper, before you know it, you’ll have a college logistics coming your way.
“Didn’t Jeroen tell you that? Then I’ll explain: the import of pallets takes place in Vianen. 1,000 a day (Van Duuren Districenters). Most of them from Germany, France and Italy. They arrive until 2am and by 6am in the morning they are on their way to their final destination ‘somewhere in the Netherlands’.
Cargo is measured using cargo scanners, volume scanners and photos. Algorithms determine whether the loads go to a hub in Germany with one trailer or by groupage. Van Duuren distributes the domestic consignments itself.
An incredible amount happens in those two to six hours. Planners are the last link in the chain. From its Schiphol site, Van Duuren sends 120 trailers throughout Europe. Together with international partners, the goods are delivered to their final destination.”

You can taste and hear this international aspect throughout the company. Spanish, Italian, Russian, French, all the languages of the world are used. It’s Friday morning, when a few of the Spanish drivers are visiting. ‘’ They just like to have a cup of coffee. I’ll provide some pastries.” He is a European citizen. Second home in the Loire.
“French are not easy businessmen, Italians, contrary to what is stated, are actually very reliable. Germans punctual and Scandinavians are most like us. You can work well with them.”
On family businesses abroad. “In Italy, you still see relatively many small family businesses. In France, almost all of them have disappeared and in Germany, on the other hand, you have a lot of very large family businesses.’’
It was clear to Jasper early on that he wanted to do the same work as his father. “Also someone who mainly thought strategically-financially,” he says. “We are more entrepreneur than trucker.” The company is growing well.
The Power BI tool makes big data insightful. Artificial Intelligence (AI) was recently launched. So even more ICT. The children Sven and Matthijs have grown attached to it. As for the other children, it has not yet been established whether they have ambitions to work at Van Duuren. Who knows, time will tell.
The business is well settled. Besides the transport interests, there is a real estate branch.  We are not going to write down who ‘gets’ what, but  the guiding principle is that Jasper and Jeroen’s successors should be free to do business once the time comes.
No family who is remotely monitoring the ongoing business. “That doesn’t work, as you will then be working in a stock market culture. We don’t want that. It has to remain a family business.

Lees het artikel in het Nederlands hier.

Family Business in Pictures has devoted an entire magazine to Van Duuren. This article is one of the published items. Every week we will post an item from the magazine.
Source: Familiebedrijf in Beeld