News item from BrettspielWelt

Trucks, freight and money

Six o'clock in the morning. Manni crawls out of his bunk and strokes his stubby fingers through his hair. He crawls up front into the cab and settles into the driver's seat. He grabs his battered Thermos flask from the glove compartment and empties out the last remnants of his luke-warm coffee. He looks through his itinerary for the day and plans today's route. He puts his empty coffe mug down and starts the ignition. The 450 hp engine reluctantly starts. He then proceeds to drive the 25 tonne load up the on ramp towards the A5.

Manni pushes the buttons on his old CB Radio and finds one his colleagues croaking in the speaker. As well as the usual chit-chat suddenly he hears a weather report: "Watch out for the black ice spots on the A5 near Giessen!". Manni had been there yesterday, so there was no risk to him. When he reaches north of Kirchheimer Junction, he turns off onto the A7 and trundles up the long pass through the Kassler mountains along with many other trucks. He pushes the throttle down on his 450 hp engine, as he must reach Hanover by lunchtime to deliver his cargo, otherwise he will be in trouble with his boss. However the traffic is now slowing down and a sinister voice from the radio announces the next unfortunate event: there has been a resious accident on the next section of the highway, and the carriageway is completely blocked!

This gets Manni frustrated. Whilst the traffic is stationary, he picks up his map and looks at what tomorrow's schedule looks like. He needs to deliver cargo from Dortmund to Hamburg. Just ahead is the motorway junction south of Kassel. If he diverts on to the A44 to Dortmund, where he could pick up a delivery, he could take the A2 back to Hanover and then continue on to Hamburg, where he can deliver the goods from Dortmund. Does he have enough cargo space for the delivery? If he cannot make the delivery from Dotrmund, he may lose the contract to another carrier. Perhaps he could add another trailer to his convoy, then his plan could still work. So he pulls off onto the A44, bound for Dortmund. He strikes lucky and obtains a trailer.

Fully loaded, he continues to the northeast. He doesn't reach Hanover by lunchtime, however, he has managed to deliver the goods from Dortmund, which will save him time tomorrow. He delivers his goods in Hanover, and takes the road northbound. With a little luck, he may even deliver in Hamburg today. However, before he can get even close to his destination, he receives an alert of a severe thuderstorm approaching. Since there is a dam on route, and because the radio has announced long delays, Manni decides to end the day a little early. He turns into the next rest stop, eats his evening meal and then goes to his bed. Before falling asleep, he thinks about tommorow's plans. For tomorrow, he will again be part of the Convoy...