Jørn Bolding – Goldhofer’s man for Scandinavia for forty years

In 1970 Jørn Bolding set up his own logistics business and has retained his passion for the transport industry to this day. Even at the age of 75, it still goes without saying for the Dane to attend to his customers' needs from Monday to Friday.

As an independent haulage contractor, he initially used his own vehicle to handle numerous transport operations, which took him all over Europe and even as far as Iran. In 1977 Bolding began to concentrate more and more on sales and service for heavy haul and special transport equipment and founded the Jørn Bolding A/S. Just one year later, exactly 40 years ago, he brokered the first Goldhofer vehicle to Denmark, a TU 3 with ramps – the beginning of an extremely successful partnership.

Today Bolding is one of Goldhofer's most experienced and best sales partners, with countless vehicles sold to customers in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and the North Atlantic islands. More than 60 percent of the company’s total sales are generated with vehicles from the Memmingen-based world market leader for heavy haul and specialized transport vehicles. At Jørn Bolding A/S, a team of eleven experts is dedicated to sales of new and pre-owned Goldhofer modules. The company has its own workshop, where not only maintenance and repair work is carried out but also modifications requested by the customer.

At management level, the name Bolding occurs three times: Jørn’s nephew Per Bolding has been with the company for almost 25 years and is responsible for the customer base, while Jørn’s son Peter joined the operation in 2001 and is responsible for the export and pre-owned vehicle business. The two work in close cooperation with Jørn Bolding, thus ensuring the continued existence of the company under family management.

Jørn Bolding lives to literally get things moving, and he also enjoys traveling himself: as the Goldhofer ambassador in the countries of his region and naturally – again and again with existing or new customers – to the Goldhofer headquarters. Jørn Bolding explains: “If the customer requires complex modifications to a vehicle, we collaborate with Goldhofer’s engineers to develop a custom-fit solution and are present when the vehicle is handed over.” With his experience as a driver, fluent German and 40 years of cooperation with Goldhofer, he is an indispensable partner. “It’s good to know that wheels are round,” says Bolding with a smile when asked whether his experience as a haulage contractor is helpful in implementing customer requirements.

His relationship with Goldhofer has been based on mutual trust and personal respect for many years, especially with Goldhofer Area Sales Manager Karlheinz Nagl, with whom Bolding has enjoyed over 30 years of close cooperation: “After all those years, in certain situations, we have almost the same rise in blood pressure,” says Bolding with a laugh: “But above all, we are happy when we can hand over vehicles to satisfied customers together.”

Jørn Bolding is very familiar with the requirements of the Scandinavian haulage industry and has closely followed the changes that have taken place in recent years: “Our geography has made us a pioneer in the field of wind power. So I was able to sell the necessary transport equipment at a very early stage. At the beginning, the Goldhofer tower adapters RA 2, 3 and 4 were called for. Today the FSH and the FTV 300 and 500 are of course the equipment of choice. In general, we are witnessing an increase in the size of the individual items to be carried. For reasons of cost, components are now produced at the plant as complete assemblies so that they can be transported to their destination and installed in once piece. As a result, the number of haulage companies capable of handling such complex projects has been reduced to just a few big players, and at the same time the demands made of the transport modules are constantly increasing.” It is comments like this that show that Jørn Bolding is deeply rooted in his work and also very much in tune with the times.

Karlheinz Nagl’s conclusion: “Instead of devoting more time to his golf, he says his handicap has recently increased because he still enjoys his work so much. At all events, Goldhofer can count itself lucky to have had such a unique sales professional in its ranks for the last 40 years.”