Leinfelden-Echterdingen/Wedemark – Whether engines, crane components, complete vehicles, hazardous goods, or food products: For almost a century, the freight forwarder Ebeling has been one of the major players in the transport industry in northern Germany. Founded 98 years ago, what began as a regional one-man operation with a horse-drawn wagon has long since become an international group of companies that provides sophisticated logistics services to renowned customers throughout Europe. 

A close partnership has linked Ebeling with Mercedes-Benz Trucks since the late 1960s and it continues to this day. “It was probably in 1969 when the first Mercedes-Benz truck came to us. And then we never let go,” says Stefan Gulbins, who now runs the logistics company based in Wedemark, north of Hanover, in the fourth generation together with Lukas Ebeling and Oliver Kilian. By now, the company headquartered in Wedemark north of Hanover has ordered more than 1,000 vehicles with the star over the years. Number 1,000 was an Actros, which Ebeling uses to transport engines across Germany and Europe, before loading the multi-ton components into a cargo aircraft for onward transport. 

“Robustness, longevity, spare parts availability, and expertise: these are value-adds that other manufacturers couldn’t offer us in the same way,” is how Stefan Gulbins sums up the reasons for the decades-long partnership with Mercedes-Benz Trucks and the Mercedes-Benz Trucks Hannover commercial vehicle center. “In doing so, we have always made sure to buy Actros trucks with the latest technology and top equipment,” says the managing director. 

Among the most recent additions to the fleet - with around 175 tractor units and about 200 trailers - is a new Mercedes-Benz Actros L with ProCabin. The modern cab design, focused particularly on aerodynamics, fuel efficiency, and comfort, caused a stir in the first few weeks. “The look did take some getting used to at first,” says Stefan Miethe, who regularly takes the vehicle out on the road. “But the longer you looked, the better the new cab appeared; it’s truly an eye-catcher and, especially in the GigaSpace variant, gives us drivers plenty of space and helpful features,” adds the 59-year-old, who originally trained as a chef before changing careers and has been driving for Ebeling since 1990. One of the highlights for him is the Multimedia Cockpit Interactive 2 with a newly designed menu layout, voice control, further improved connectivity, and new applications such as Connected Traffic Warnings for detecting and relaying hazard alerts to vehicles in the nearby vicinity. 

“We need planning certainty”

Over Stefan Miethe’s decades behind the wheel, technology has changed massively. “Today, for example, driver assistance systems are indispensable in a truck. Cruise control, adaptive cruise control, emergency brake assist - these make driving much more comfortable and safer.” He would have liked that earlier: “In 1996 I was involved in a serious accident in which I broke a cervical vertebra. With an emergency brake assist, which didn’t exist back then, that certainly wouldn’t have happened.”

As for the powertrain, Ebeling has been using HVO fuel at customers’ request for the past few months as a nearly climate-neutral alternative to fossil diesel, and the first battery-electric eActros 600 trucks will soon be arriving in the yard. Proprietary 400 kW charging stations are planned, with electricity supplied by the company’s own photovoltaic system. The vehicles are to be deployed in two shifts on two routes to Dortmund and Hamburg, covering up to 700 kilometers per day. The drivers are already convinced, reports Stefan Gulbins. “We conducted a four-week field trial. The feedback was unequivocal: the quiet in the vehicle, the driving feel—no one wanted to go back.”

About Ebeling

Founded in 1927, Ebeling Logistik is a traditional, family-run logistics company headquartered in Wedemark near Hanover. Thanks to its central location at the A7, A2, and A352 autobahns, the company is an important logistics partner for transports between the Ruhr region, Hamburg, and Berlin. In addition to national and international freight transport, Ebeling has particular expertise in special transports, hazardous goods, temperature-controlled transports, and the storage of sensitive or water-hazardous goods. With warehouse capacity currently of approximately 125,000 pallet positions and a fleet of around 175 vehicles, predominantly of the Mercedes-Benz brand, Ebeling is among the largest medium-sized logistics service providers in Lower Saxony. At its main site in Wedemark, the company employs about 450 staff from over 40 nations.