Van den Anker's History

Founder J.M.G. van den Anker started his own carrier business with one truck in 1965 in Liempde when he was 18 years old. Ultimately, his company grew to become the current 6 Van den Anker sites (storage and transhipment) with more than 100 trucks in the Netherlands and Belgium.

In the beginning, all sorts were transported such as machines, bagged products, printed matter and food. Fairly quickly, the activities were expanded and Transportbedrijf Van den Anker BV was created with different trucks and a small storage warehouse.

Through a joint venture with a transport company from Groningen, distribution was started of crop protection products in the South of the Netherlands.

Fairly quickly Van den Anker began distributing crop protection products of other customers and this is how the distribution network of ADR classified products was created. 

The shipping enterprise grew and, ultimately, the shipping enterprise moved from Liempde to Son en Breugel to premises on the Ekkersrijt industrial estate halfway through the 1980s.

In 1986, Van den Anker opened its first warehouse for the storage of environmentally critical products.

This first warehouse was, at that time, quite unique in the Netherlands. It was suitable for the storage of hazardous chemicals, was compartmentalised and it had a sprinkler system.

Bakwagen aan het laaddock

The European Distribution Centre (EDC) in Roosendaal was put into operation in 1999. The EDC mainly focuses on product flows from the Far East and the Unites States. Since 2000, Van den Anker’s policy has fully focused on its core task: the storage and distribution of (packaged) chemical products.

The distribution network of ADR products was, subsequently, considerably expanded because there was more and more demand for closely-linked distribution of ADR products. A depot was opened in Charleroi in 2000 and a transport company (Wester BV) was taken over in Meppel in 2003.

A second location in Roosendaal was put into service in 2006 due to the extensive growth and the increasing demand for suitable storage space; an ultra modern,  fully automated high-rise warehouse. This 24-metre high warehouse is driven through automatic cranes and roller conveyors, which ensures that a high service level can be achieved.

A new location in Wetteren (near to Ghent) was put into operation in 2006. A warehouse was established here for hazardous chemicals and the distribution for West Belgium also takes place from this site.

 In 2009, Van den Anker moved all its shipping activities from Son en Breugel to Eindhoven. The Son site has only been used for the storage of (packaged) chemical products since that date. The separation between shipping and warehousing activities had become necessary because the site at Son simply became too small for the volumes that have been increasing significantly.

The new site in Eindhoven consists of a 3,600 m² transhipment warehouse provided with 40 loading and unloading docks. The site, naturally, complies with the strictest environmental requirements and it has, for example a Hi-Ex inside air foam system.