Two men and their timber trucks
Two men, five MAN trucks and a whole lot of timber on the trailer. For Konrad and Georg Giehl, the challenge of safely loading and transporting full-length logs is part of their everyday lives.
It’s night – a time when people are usually fast asleep. In the Giehl yard, however, it’s already time to fire up the truck. This is when Konrad Giehl starts to make his way to the sawmill in his MAN truck, loaded with 20 tonnes of full-length logs. “The most stressful thing is getting stuck in heavy traffic with the timber on the back,” he comments, revealing why he prefers to set off between two and three o’clock in the morning. It’s also why he would be quite happy to spend all day in the forest:
“In the past you were always glad to get out of the forest, but nowadays the real stress doesn’t start until you’ve left the forest and are driving on the road outside.”
Respect is key
A typical day with his truck and trailer resembles a one-man show in the forest. It’s one that needs to be carefully planned – out here, you don’t want any surprises. That’s why each step must be correctly executed and each decision has to be carefully considered. The quiet and calm way in which Konrad Giehl talks about his job says a lot about his wealth of experience. He has been loading and transporting the huge, sometimes 21-metre-long logs every day for the past 32 years. It’s a job that is deeply rooted in his family – his grandfather, who founded the company in 1955, and his father were also both drivers of timber trucks. Now, he is carrying on the family tradition, piloting his MAN trucks with their heavy timber loads out of the forest day in, day out – whatever the weather.
“When I drive into the forest, I always take the same route as the one I plan to take when leaving the forest, so that I avoid any surprises later on when I have the logs on the back.” It’s hard to avoid them, however. In private forests, for example, the tracks are often narrow and overgrown. In tight corners, August often can’t see the long trailer at all, and needs to estimate the rough position of the axles based on the wood at the front. “If all else fails, I need to stop, walk back and look to see where the trailer is.” As an experienced driver of timber trucks, he knows all too well that it’s when you overestimate your own abilities that things go wrong.
“Although the trucks are very capable machines, you still can’t just drive recklessly through every ditch. Whenever a driver has flipped a timber truck and trailer, they thought they were better than the technology,” he adds.
MAN as a reliable partner
The best blend is, therefore, a truck driver who affords the job the necessary respect and can rely on the very best technology. That’s why Konrad Giehl and his son only use MAN trucks. The vehicles need to be very robust and able to handle all weather conditions, be it extreme heat or extreme cold. “That’s why we opted for MAN. Because they perform the best for our requirements, and provide the ideal combination of on-road and off-road capabilities,” says Konrad Giehl. He swears by his fleet, which consists of an MAN TGS 26.480 6×4, MAN TGS 28.480 all-wheel drive, MAN TGX 26.640 6×4, MAN TGX 18.480 4×2 and an MAN TGX 18.440 4×2.
“I learned from my father not to become overconfident when I’m driving a timber truck and trailer,” explains Georg Giehl, who now already has six years’ experience in the timber industry. And what if something does happen? “Stay calm and don’t panic,” Giehl Junior replies, echoing the composure of his father.
Tough times in winter
His father knows dicey situations all too well. You can never rule them out, particularly in winter: “When you’re in a fully loaded truck with no tyre chains and it starts to slide backwards ten metres from the hilltop, you only have about two seconds to decide what to do. At first you panic and slam on the brakes, but the truck doesn’t stop and continues sliding. You then have to force yourself to come off the brakes so that you can steer again – that’s not possible if your wheels are locked up. In those two seconds, I need to decide if I’m going to direct the truck left or right into the field. After all, I can’t stop it happening.” Further proof, if it were needed, of Konrad Giehl’s practical mindset in the forest. It’s the only way out here: “When out in the forest, each driver of a timber truck has to rely on themselves.”
“When out in the forest, each driver of a timber truck has to rely on themselves.”
And that’s something that we’ve duly noted: the next time we see a truck pulling a load of full-length logs on the road, we won’t just watch it go by, we’ll afford the driver the extra respect they deserve.
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Fotos: © Klaus Hepp