Family businesses, where one generation takes over from the previous one: they’re still around. Jan Arts Transport Services is a fine example. In 1929, Jan senior started ferrying around all kinds of products across the east of Brabant and the north of Limburg, in Holland. Soon things began to kick off and Jan’s three sons joined the company. The men proved to be very versatile. Vegetables, pigs, household rubbish and even gritting during the winter months – Jan and co knew how to deal with it all.
Son Jan junior took over the company in 1974. From 1985, together with
his daughter Anne, he specialized in transporting flowers, plants and nursery products. In 2001, he handed over the reins to Anne and her partner Ger. Currently, these two lead a team of thirty people.

One of them is Lilian van de Weijer. She contributes to the daily planning and is responsible for the Container Centralen administration. “We have been a CC customer for a long time now”, she says. “At the moment, as a member of the CC Pool, we have just over 1,000 trolleys and just over 5,000 shelves. There is a good balance between the two.

When a customer of ours wants an adjustment, we put that through immediately. That’s all going very well. I am only in touch with Container Centralen a few times per year. We really appreciated that our regular contact at CC, Andrea Wright, recently paid us a visit.”

Drivers on the road
In the office, Lilian is joined by Anne, Helmy and Manon. “The latter is Anne’s and Ger’s daughter, so there is that family connection again! Even more so… her boyfriend Michiel is one of our drivers.” For the four women, there is never a dull moment at work. Day in day out they have got their hands full, explains Lilian. “For the daily transport of flowers and plants, our growers can call us between noon and 2. Between 2 and 4 we make our planning, and then our drivers can take to the road around 4. They drive to FloraHolland’s branches and to the Rhein-Maas auction site in Germany, just across the border. Our second speciality, nursery products, comes with more regular hours. We pick them up in the morning, bring them to places such as Boskoop and Zundert, and these lorries return in the afternoon.”