Heavy straight trucks with a roll-off system are commonplace in the Netherlands, versatile as these freight vehicles are. They mostly transport an open top container -in which case they’re essentially working as a dump truck- but you can also see them carrying a flatbed, tanker body, dry mortar silo, or concrete mixer. Towing a trailer often comes with the job, most certainly in the open top container business.
Numerous roll-off trucks are always present at the yearly September show in the east of my country (one of those must-visits). I selected six of them that were on display at the 2025 edition.
For maximum versatility, Van der Haar’s pure 2024 DAF XF 480 FAW -that is a cabover truck with an 8×4*4 drivetrain- is equipped with a hooklift hoist and knuckle boom crane, both made by Hiab. The Van der Haar company specializes in dewatering projects (‘bronbemaling’).
The roll-off truck carries a flatbed with two pumps. Tridem-axle configurations replace the traditional 8×2 and 8×4 twin-steer chassis more and more. In this case, the tridem consists of two drive axles and a counter-steering tag axle.
The DAF’s registered legal maximum gross weight is 37 tonnes (81,570 lbs). Technically, it’s even 44 tonnes (97,000 lbs).
A shiny 2020 Scania R580 V8 6×2 truck with a chain system, transporting a ‘well-used’ open top container. I’m sure you can hear this machine loud and clear when it arrives or leaves.
Here’s a 2024 DAF XG+ 530 FAS 6×2 chassis-cab with a VDL hooklift hoist and a lifted tag axle. Just like the Scania R580, the DAF is rated at a gross weight of 28 tonnes (61,700 lbs).
2018 Scania Life’s a gamble R450 6×2*4 hooklift truck. Such a low, open top container is typically used to haul construction and demolition debris, like chunks of brick walls or concrete floors.
An advantage over a fixed dump body is that the truck with a roll-off system can simply leave an empty container at the job site and collect it sometimes later, when it’s (over)loaded. No need to wait, just carry on. Quite literally.
The oldest carrier, a 2012 Scania R500 V8 with an 8×2/4 drivetrain. The big blue box is a 20ft shipping container portable cabin, secured on a roll-off frame by twistlocks.
No worries, it does have windows. It speaks for itself that these cabins can also be loaded and unloaded by using a forklift or crane (courtesy of S. van Holstein).
Going indoors for the last one. The newest and by far most powerful RoRo set of wheels was this 2025 Scania 770S V8 8×2/4, about to be delivered to its new owner, a metal recycling company. Evidently, the sublime chassis-cab is fitted with a cable system.
In the early ’80s I worked for a trash co. It didn’t take long to realize a rolloff truck was the perfect one truck system for farmers. After seeing the boss put a load of corn on a 20yd box I did him one better and took a closed packer container welded an angle iron track on the back door and slid a sheet of plywood in sealing the back, cut a whole in the front for a grain auger that could be covered and there we had dry, portable grain storage.
Yes indeed, roll-off trucks are also ideal (and are thus widely used) to transport all kinds of agricultural products. I caught the combination below at the end of 2020, the Scania S500 6×2 truck, towing a GS trailer, was hauling beets.
Great photos, Johannes!
My two favorite truck brands together. I can’t decide which one to choose.
Thanks! Van der Haar’s DAF XF is my personal favorite. Straightforward, clean, and yet it stands out with its bright red cab and all-black wheels. And because of the truck’s tri-axle set-up and Hiab crane behind the cab it looks (and is) impressive.
I watch a YouTube channel featuring a Swede named “M. Bjoernstroem” who does all sorts of interesting projects of varying natures. It’s a neat channel, and I recommend that folks check him out.
He has a Volvo hook loader much like these, with both a flat bed and a dump bed. One of the neat flat bed tricks he uses is to put the flat bed on the ground, drive a piece of heavy equipment onto it, and then hook load the flat bed onto the truck. No ramps, no crazy loading angles, making it seem much safer than the way the same thing is accomplished in the States.
Thanks for the tip, I’ll have a look. Once a flatbed is sitting on the ground, it’s easy to load. Wheeled or tracked machinery can be driven on the bed effortlessly and safely. I’ve seen machinery being transported that way, not on a flatbed, but driven into an open top container (these come with rear doors, as can be seen in the article).
Years ago, I spotted an open top container that was combined with a crane, so as a single hooklift roll-off unit.