VDL Group, the company that partially took over the bankrupt bus builder Van Hool, has announced that just 250 jobs will remain at the Van Hool’s site in the village of Koningshooikt, near Lier (Antwerp Province). A total of 1,600 former Van Hool staff will retain their jobs. However, the lion’s share will be at the Van Hool factory in North Macedonia.
VDL Groep to retain just 250 staff after its takeover of the bus builder Van Hool’s site in Antwerp Province
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The amount paid by VDL for the takeover has not been disclosed. An agreement on the terms of employment for the remaining employees was reached with the trade unions after weeks of negotiations.
The Dutch company is not a new player in the Belgian market. For example, VDL has been supplying the Flemish public transport company De Lijn for many years. According to VDL, the takeover will save a total of 1,600 jobs in the European bus industry: 250 in Flanders and 1,350 in North Macedonia. At Koningshooikt VDL plans to hire 250 former Van Hool employees. That is somewhat fewer than "300 to 600" that VDL had promised earlier this year.
No more buses to be built at Koningshooikt
At the site in Kooningshooikt 250 staff will be hired for the production of spare parts and for the after-sales, purchasing, development and finance departments. The company intends to use other sites for the construction of buses. These are VDL's existing factory in the West Flemish town of Roeselare and Van Hool’s factory in North Macedonia.
All intellectual property, tools and machinery once owned by Van Hool now belong to VDL. In order to continue supplying buses to the United States and Canada, VDL has made arrangements with a local distributor.