We will use the following interview with Maria Van Dievel, daughter of the founder of the company and member of the board, to explain how VDT got started and how it grew into the company it is today.

Sixty years of road transport Maria, the eldest child of the Van Dievel-Casteels' family, grew up with one sister. She enjoyed her young life to the fullest until the Second World War broke out.

Her father supplied milk to a few institutions in Mechelen such as the barracks and the hospital. When the war broke out and milk sales completely stopped, her father had to look for an alternative. He found it when the 'Papeteries de Belgique' offered to let him transport paper. Maria became her father's first driver's mate.

Enkele jaren later nam Maria zelf het stuur van een vrachtwagen in handen tot ze met haar echtgenoot, wijlen Maurice De Wael, voor een gezin koos met zes kinderen.
Maria combineerde vele jaren gezin en bedrijf. Ze runde het bedrijf samen met haar man tot het begin van de jaren negentig, als haar man ernstig ziek werd. Drie van haar kinderen namen dan het roer van hen over.

A few years later Maria started driving herself until she, together with Maurice De Wael, her late husband, decided to raise six children. During many years, Maria combined raising a family with running a company. She managed the company with her husband until the early nineties. Then he became gravely ill and three of their children took over.

Maria Van Dievel experienced the golden sixties during which the roads' network expanded exponentially. An explosive growth in road transport followed. She watched the one-man business of her father grow into the medium-sized company it is today.
As the founder's daughter, at an early stage of her life, Maria had a first-hand experience of the hard life of a transporter; as the manager's spouse, she observed the rapid development of road transport from close by.
Maria Van Dievel's story is also the story of sixty years of road transport in Belgium.

How was paper transported in those early years?

With a horse-drawn cart until the horse died at the end of 1942. At that time we transported about 2.5 tonnes of paper from Brussels to Duffel, three times a week. One trip took about a day so, in all, transporting paper kept us busy during three days. The days in between were used for loading and unloading.

One day, my father asked the manager of the so-called 'paper-mill' how long he could work for him as a transporter. The manager answered: 'For as long as you remain honest'!
Van Dievel transported paper until 1997 when the factory closed its doors forever.

And when the horse was buried the first truck was bought?

Yes indeed. We bought our first truck on an 'instalment basis' with money advanced by the Papeteries. In Brussels we were tricked into buying a Saurer with a defective engine. Out of sheer necessity we had to have another engine installed. That was a Chevrolet motor which quickly proved to be much too light. Maybe the special fuel we used during the war had something to do with that as well.
Anyway, as petrol was not available, we fixed a special gas installation on top of the truck. On the way, the driver's mate produced gas by burning special coal. The gasses which were released during the combustion process, were diverted to the engine and made it run.

I was driver's mate at the age of fourteen. I became intoxicated by the coal gas many times and at the end of every trip I was unrecognizably black!
I remember very well that when we arrived at 'the mountain', just before the city of Zemst, I had to poke the coal energetically so enough gas would be released and we could climb that slope.
On Sundays the gas-ducts had to be cleaned. I found that always a very boring chore!

Was it still fun driving a truck in those days?

One did not consider that. Father never asked me whether I felt like coming along; the work simply had to be done.
In May 1944, conditions were so bad that spare parts were no longer available.
We could not even replace our worn-out tyres! At one time we had a flat tyre six times during one trip. With an angelic patience my father repaired it each time.
He used a special technique to stick with glue. I don't want to discuss the details here but just imagine the following: my father and I took turns pumping up the tyre 1500 times until it became hard again!
The things we experienced with that car..!? At the end of that difficult period, as a young woman, I was able to pump up a tyre without stopping.

And all that time you transported paper with that Saurer truck?

No, at times the production of paper was put on the back burner. Fortunately, during those difficult war years we received other orders as well. Among other things, we collected lignite and fish for the local city council, we transported milkpowder for the chocolate factory Renaux etc...

After all that trouble with the Saurer, which was your next truck?

After all that trouble with the Saurer, which was your next truck?
In 1944 we bought a truck from the Registry Office which the Germans had left behind in this neighbourhood . It was a Liberty truck from the first world war, with a petrol engine and hard tyres! On top of it, we fixed the gas installation of the Saurer.
Thus equipped, the vehicle reached a speed of 25-30 km p.h., which, even in those days, was considered to be slow indeed.
With this purchase we in fact fell out of the frying pan into the fire. How many times we had to replace the gasket of the crank-shaft after overtaking a hay cart, I cannot count!
To repair it, my father and I formed a strong team: I unscrewed the front screws of the crank-case plate and tightened them again, he took care of the rear. In those days we repaired that gasket in record time!

Did the end of the war mean the end of driving on gas as well?

After the war we purchased a Renault, our first really good truck. An excellent car, probably just because it used petrol for fuel. At that time, we were working for the paper-mill again, just like before.
We kept the Renault until 1947, we owned a Fordson until 1950, after which we drove another Renault. Our next trucks were a Dodge, a Ford, a seriesof Berliets etc.

What role did you play during the years immediately after the war?

From 1947 up to 1951, I personally drove the Fordson . Once we owned that truck, we were able to double our transport capacity to five tonnes. In those days, I made up to three trips daily and at times I transported 15 tonnes of paper in one day.

The unloading of the paper was no laughing matter: as a driver, you had to 'pass on' the load and ensure it remained dry. Later on, the unloading of bobbins required great dexterity as well.

In 1948 my father hired our first driver, Maurice De Wael. We got married in 1950 and the next year I was pregnant. From that moment on, my newly-formed family had my undivided attention.

In those early years, permits were strictly regulated. How did that work exactly?

For each truck you bought, you had to apply for a P-permit. If you were able to submit invoices proving that during the last three years you were a regular transporter, you were entitled to a national V-permit.
Once you had permits for 6 trucks, you could obtain the permits for the next without formalities.
Mr. Vranken, a civil servant at the Ministry of Transport in those days, gave us a P-permit as a wedding present. It so happened that at that time we had applied for an additional permit. Vranken then wrote me to be careful with the permit 'as a truck is not a baby-carriage'

After that, you were no longer actively involved in the company for a while. When did you start working for the firm again?

After the death of my father in 1964, I started giving my husband a hand with the invoices and other administrative chores.

How did the company develop during your absence?

In the early fifties the company worked with 3 drivers, my husband included. This number slowly increased until the middle sixties when the first important contracts were signed: at first with the firm Scott of those days, today's Kimberly Clark and, at the end of the sixties, with Proctor & Gamble.

In 1969, when my eldest son took up driving, we employed 7 drivers. From that moment on, until about the middle eighties, Van Dievel grew very quickly. In 1985 we had 27 employees, nearly 4 times the number of 1969. Today, compared to 1985, that number again has doubled.
By the way, our warehouse was built in 1972 following an agreement with Scott.

Wanneer is de eerste oplegger in het wagenpark van Van Dievel verschenen?

The first trailer dates from 1967. In that year we bought a tractor and two trailers. Until he died, my father had objected buying a tractor-trailer.
He was of the opinion that the combination tractor-trailer was not so safe. My husband was the person who introduced the trailer in our company

How did your father describe a good driver?

First and foremost, to him a good driver was a hard worker, capable of maintaining his own vehicle. Consequently, his drivers were handy mechanics.
Last but not least, his people's honesty mattered to him as much as anything else.

Did you or your husband see things differently?

No, we kept that image of the driver. Maybe we added something new: we asked our drivers to keep calm in all circumstances. My husband advised them to make a fist every time they felt themselves becoming rebellious or angry.
That is to say, in their trouser pocket!
I am convinced that the image of the driver as an honest, hard-workingperson is still as valid today as it was at that time. However, the emphasis for drivers has shifted from being knowledgeable about mechanical problems to being aware of a defensive driving style, the on-board computer, modern loading and unloading techniques and customer relations.

You never had serious accidents during those many years as a transport company?

Of course we had but fortunately, on balance, we were fairly lucky. During the 60 years of VDT's existence, we had one traffic accident during which a person got seriously injured. The poor man got stuck and splintered his leg after skidding on a wintry day with freezing rain. He recovered but was no longer able to exercise his beloved driving profession. In those days that was a drama.
Another person became injured during loading and unloading but happily he had a full recovery.

In the late sixties, the new generation joined the company. Did this mean the end of the former?

In 1969 our first son joined the firm as a driver. Of course, he had already been actively involved in the company for a number of years. His 3 brothers and 2 sisters followed him in turn.
All of our children have been drivers at VDT for a while, the one a little longer than the other. This, however, did not yet mean the transfer of the company's management. That happened only in 1993, after the death of my husband.
In that year our youngest son Louis started running VDT, together with his brother Jan and his sister Mia. In the meantime, our eldest son Jos had built up his own logistical firm.It gives me great satisfaction to see the next generation continuing the business.

I have great confidence in today's management. As far as I am able to judge, it is doing its utmost to fit the company in today's difficult transport market.
I sincerely hope the management will succeed, for the benefit of our customers and of the drivers who are dedicating themselves today to Van Dievel Transport.
Believe me, it never was an easy charge; today, it still is not

Transporting paper during the fifties.

Founder Joseph Van Dievel immediately after the war.

Maria and her Fordson in 1948.

AEC from the sixties, with hood.

Tractor-trailer in 1975, on the foreground Maria Van Dievel.

Maurice De Wael (1988)

few truck drivers. On the background a varied fleet of motor-cars (1992).