24.07.2025

Johannes Floris Willem ‘ Hans ‘ Aarse 1953-2025

We have received the sad news that Dutch/international crane and access industry veteran Hans Aarse has died.
He passed away early on Monday after a short illness, he was 71 and would have celebrated his 72nd birthday at the end of August.

His passing was something of a surprise, given that he had overcome a vicious bacteria last year that caused the partial amputation of his right foot. It did not keep him down too long though and he was soon back on his feet and riding a scooter.

Hans Aarse worked for the Vertikal Press for a time, selling advertising in the Benelux region, having left the industry a couple of years earlier, and was working with a Nissan car dealer when he saw a story on Vertikal Net stating that with so many Dutch readers we ought to have someone local working for us - thus, the call, but more on that later.

He leaves behind wife Anneke along with daughters Esther and Sanne and three grandchildren. His funeral service will be held on Monday, July 28th at 13:00 at the Ichthus Church, Zuid Voorstraat 26, 's-Gravendeel.
You will also be able to attend the ceremony online at: www.uitvaartverzorgingmoree.nl/live-uitzending.
The burial will follow at the General Cemetery, Maasdamseweg 1c in 's-Gravendeel. After the funeral, there will be an opportunity to socialise in the Ichthus Church hall.

A life in lifting

Hans Aarse began his career in the lifting industry at the start of 1975 when he joined the Coles crane dealer Van Kranenburg as a salesman around the same time as it was appointed as the JLG distributor for the Netherlands, taking him into the aerial lift business, where he ‘found his niche’ which would serve him well for the rest of his life. In 1982 Van Kranenburg ran into difficulties and filed for bankruptcy. Three of its managers, Wim Haasbroek, Frans van den Dool and Bas van de Wetering, set up a new company called HDW – but that is another story.

By the time Van Kranenburg finally closed its doors Hans had joined the forklift rental company Gunco which had been adding aerial lifts to its fleet and was already becoming a significant player in the access rental market. His brief was to help build up a strong sales business, including obtaining the distribution rights for a major manufacturer. That same year Gunco was appointed as the Grove Manlift distributor for the Netherlands.

Hans Aarse certainly knew how to sell and Gunco, in partnership with Grove, became the one of the market leading aerial lift players in the Dutch market - especially when it came to boom lifts. Gunco and Aarse used their success to put pressure on Grove to add Germany to their Manlift territory. Germany was covered at that time by a Grove subsidiary in Bietigheim-Bissingen near Stuttgart i nthe south. So Gunco was given Northern Germany, and with Hans selling, they quickly outperformed the manufacturer's subsidiary -Grove GmbH. Based on the initial success Gunco set up a satellite operation in Hanover.

By the end of 2000, Hans was having difficulties with his health and things… with time off work and left the business following a highly successful 19 years with the company. In 2001 he began working with Mateco, but shortly after starting, left both the company and the industry. He eventually found work with his local Nissan dealer covering commercial vehicle sales, until 2004 when he made the call to Leigh Sparrow who had taken over at the Vertikal press a year earlier. He officially joined Vertikal in October of that year, getting his ‘foot back in the door’ of the access industry.

Just over a year later he began working part time for IPAF as its representative for the Benelux region, he was so successful that he ended up working full time for the federation, dropping his role with Vertikal. At the end of 2013 he began very, very gradually handing over the IPAF role to Jur Kamsteeg. He completed the process by the end of 2017, when he announced that he (would be semi retiring).

During his time with IPAF he and Hans van Gameren took over the Verticaaldagen exhibition, which had started the previous year. In 2014 they sold the event to Evenementenhal, and it moved to the Gorinchem exhibition centre, the two remained on board for a year or two to sell space at the event and help out.

In January 2019, barely a year after he had supposedly retired, he joined Chinese aerial lift manufacturer LGMG as senior advisor Europe he had some success with the company, but . around 18 months later he moved to XCMG where he was appointed European sales and service advisor, which also gave him a taste of cranes again. He was still consulting with the company until the end.

His family have added the following words about Hans on his funeral card:
Sweet, Crazy, Funny, Stubborn, Fantastic grandpa!, adding:
We will miss you terribly. We will never forget you!

He was certainly all of those things, a man who was larger than life, entertaining, always enthusiastic, hardworking, knowledgeable, competitive, exasperating at time, extremely stubborn at times, kind at times, rude at times, but usually good, or at least entertaining, company with a raucous laugh. One thing is for sure, love him or hate him, you could not miss him. He was a true character. He had friends throughout the industry, and will be missed by a great many people. It is very sad to think that he will not be popping up at the next industry event. Rest in peace Hans.