DAF Losser truck

Manufacturer	DAF
Production	1938 to 1955
Class	commercial vehicle
Layout	truck
Load	5 tonnes

The DAF Losser (unloader) was the first vehicle of the Dutch manufacturer DAF . DAF had previously produced trailers for trucks, among other things. Developed in 1938, the Losser presented a completely new distribution concept.Was developed to load the containers in which goods were stowed from a railway chassis to a truck and vice versa.

History

At that time, goods from the railway wagon were reloaded onto the other means of transport and vice versa. The system invented by DAF with standard containers of up to 5 tonnes payload transferred from the railcar chassis to a truck with the Losser quickly solved the problem of railway undertakings regarding door-to-door delivery of goods. It was able to

• place a five tonne loading box from a railcar on the unloader
• to transport this container quickly by road to the place of destination
• deposit the container on the ground at its destination

The practical solution saved the working time of those who had to unload the goods in or out of the railway wagons, while in the factories a container could now be loaded or unloaded directly.

The system was also acquired by the Belgian and Swiss railways and Deutsche Bahn after a decade of testing and deployment at the Dutch railway company . Today, the system is standard in international rail traffic and is also used similarly in shipping . The success later encouraged DAF to enter the construction of motorized commercial vehicles .