Family businesses Akkermans and Hertoghs both have their own history and customer base. Akkermans as a builder for specialized vehicles and container units for industries such as broadcasting (reportage/regional cars) and health care, but also for defense, police, fire departments and other government services. Hertoghs Carrosserieën specialized in road transport and had, in addition to its own design and construction department, a trade branch for the import and sale of trucks, trailers and semi-trailers.
Strengths united
A major reason for the merger, some five years ago, according to Arjan Akkermans, is that the eighth-generation family business could not find a successor in the family line. "With our branch in Oud-Gastel, we were less than three kilometers away from Hertoghs, a third-generation family business. We knew each other well and often went to trade fairs and other industry events together. So when we were looking for a party to take over our business, Roel Hertoghs was a logical interlocutor. In 2020 we finally merged, the first three years still in two locations, but now we have concentrated all activities in Roosendaal."
Hertoghs adds: "While Akkermans was looking for a suitable acquisition partner, we were looking for a new market, because the transport world is rather cyclical and we did want a bit more constancy in our construction and trading activities for new customer circles. With the merger, we united our strengths. In fact, we are two companies under one roof, still using our separate company name for our well-known customer groups in production and delivery. But with one joint staff pool and shared design, construction and spraying facilities. At the eRIC trade fair we now want to present ourselves as a new combination in the Dutch superstructure market and show the services and organizations present at the fair what we have to offer."
'Building on wheels'
And that customer base is broad, as are its mobility and logistics needs. The product range of traditional Carrosserie Akkermans already includes many projects in the fields of fire, police, medical and defense. 'Specials' from the portfolio include dentist buses and vehicles for population screening, but the company also built specialized emergency vehicles for the fire department, vehicles and units for incident response hazardous materials and in particular command vehicles. Three Mobile Command Units (MCU) for security regions are currently under construction at Hertoghs-Akkermans. For defense, the company built, among other things, sanitary container units for field hospitals and earlier units for the Explosives Clearing Service. And for the police in the Southwest Netherlands, a truck-trailer combination was built four years ago into Crime Scene Unit XL for forensic investigations.
Arjan Akkermans: "What we have traditionally been good at is realizing 'buildings on wheels.' This includes report and directional vehicles for broadcasting production companies, but also mobile command units for safety regions, care containers and vehicles for medical population research. A project is currently underway for a number of small mobile offices for the Environmental and Transport Inspectorate. For defense, some dental vehicles are also under construction and for the UN we have some prototypes under construction for vehicles for medical examination with X-ray equipment in crisis areas without healthcare facilities. This kind of activity typifies us; we look for niche projects for target groups with specialized needs. For example, we will never tender for large procurement projects for standard vehicles such as fire department tankers. Others are much better at that."
"What we have traditionally been good at is realizing 'buildings on wheels'." - Arjan Akkermans
Market with potential
Arjan Akkermans and Roel Hertoghs see a market in change but at the same time a market with potential, especially in the security domain. Akkermans: "Tenders are becoming more complex and changing in character. Instead of individual procurement projects, we are increasingly seeing long-term framework contracts. For example, two years ago we concluded a government-wide seven-year framework agreement for the supply of vehicles in four lots: justice, Rijkswaterstaat, Customs and 'specials' which includes, for example, specialized defense vehicles. During the contract period, new vehicles then do not have to be put out to tender again and again, but we can subscribe directly to a project. The framework contract concerns almost exclusively electric vehicles."
The two foremen of the construction combination also see growth potential in the defense domain; a market in which a great deal will be invested in the coming years to promote the security of the Netherlands and the NATO alliance. Because the crisis threat in Europe is growing, as is the urgency to strengthen both the civilian and military sectors and make the Netherlands more resilient. According to Roel Hertoghs, this will undoubtedly lead to a greater need for mobility and logistics: "We also see the trend that large construction companies receive such large orders that they need smaller specialized colleague companies to outsource some of those jobs to. In that respect, we are certainly 'in the market' to do our share. But with jobs that suit us and match the knowledge and specialization we have in house. Both for civilian OOV services such as safety regions and the ambulance sector and for defense, we want to be that partner. We will show this during eRIC 2026 with part of our relevant portfolio, such as command vehicles.
