Publish Time: 2025-12-09 Origin: Site
When realizing that the electrification modification of diesel haul trucks could only serve as a short-term solution, entrepreneur Toon Mertens keenly perceived the market gap. Mertens, the founder of M-ECS (Electrification and Control Systems Company), firmly believed that the real breakthrough lay in designing ground support vehicles specifically for electrification from the very beginning, rather than tinkering with existing fuel vehicles.
"The frame and transmission system of fuel vehicles simply cannot match the energy efficiency and long-term adaptability of customized electric vehicles." This core judgment became the starting point for Mertens to enter a new market segment. In 2022, leveraging the engineering and technical advantages accumulated by M-ECS, he officially established a new brand, Shire, focusing on the research and manufacturing of electric ground support vehicles for the aviation industry, aiming to provide more forward-looking green solutions for the sector.
Recently, the Shire brand has reached an important milestone - on October 5th, its first series of electric luggage and freight towing vehicles was officially launched, marking a significant breakthrough for the brand in the electrification of aviation ground support. It is known that in addition to the already launched towing vehicle products, Shire is also planning more types of electric ground support equipment (GSE), and will gradually improve the product portfolio in the future.
Compared to traditional equipment, the electric tractor launched by Shire has achieved a dual upgrade in terms of intelligence and practicality. The equipment is equipped with a number of advanced functional options: operators can track energy consumption, performance and work cycle data in real time, and detect potential faults through predictive diagnosis, minimizing equipment downtime to the greatest extent; what is more noteworthy is that Shire is developing a modular upgrade plan, which will enable the equipment to be equipped with new functions such as its own developed collision detection and avoidance systems in the future, further enhancing operational safety.
"With Shire's assistance, we will directly incorporate the engineering DNA of M-ECS into the field of aviation ground support equipment." Mentens emphasized when discussing the brand positioning, "In the short term, the electrification retrofit of diesel equipment still has its necessity. But in the long run, customized electric equipment is the core path to achieving efficient, safe and sustainable development in the industry."
Gerd van Damme, the sales director of Shire, added from the perspective of market demand: "The ground service environment is extremely demanding. If the equipment design fails to fully consider the economic costs and actual operational needs of the operators, even the best technical solutions will be difficult to take root." Shire's product development is always oriented towards actual application scenarios, and this concept is also reflected in every function design of the equipment.
With the advancement of the "carbon neutrality" goals in the global aviation industry, the electrification of ground support equipment has become an inevitable trend for industry transformation. Shire has broken the limitations of the traditional modification model through customized research and development. Not only has it seized the market opportunity for itself, but it also has the potential to drive the aviation ground support industry into a new stage of efficiency and sustainability through technological innovation.