NLSC: specialised containers for the Royal Netherlands Army
In 2025, Marshall delivered the last of 201 specialised containers to the Dutch Ministry of Defence, providing the Royal Netherlands Army with a vital capability to store and transport critical military supplies and equipment.
This was a truly global production run for our Deployable Infrastructure business, spanning the facilities and teams of Marshall and its partners in the UK, Canada and the Netherlands.
This case study looks behind the scenes of the successful Netherlands Specialised Containers (NLSC) programme.
Secure storage and transport
Every contract starts from understanding the customer requirement, and NLSC was no exception.
Marshall was approached by Materieellogistiek Commando (MatLogCo), the division of the Royal Netherlands Army responsible for ensuring that military personnel have the equipment and supplies they require, both domestically and abroad.
MatLogCo tasked our Deployable Infrastructure team with designing a series of containerised products that would allow the Royal Netherlands Army to store and transport a range of critical goods, including hazardous and delicate material such as ammunition and medical supplies.
Due to the specialised nature of the cargo in question, the product provided by Marshall would need to comply with the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR), while also meeting stringent requirements around temperature control, humidity control and thermal efficiency.
Meeting the Royal Netherlands Army’s requirements
In response to MatLogCo’s requirements, Marshall designed a range of five container variants, all based on ISO-standard 20 ft format used across its Deployable Infrastructure range. These base platforms are easy to configure in line with budget and operational requirements, and feature a common set of certified safety systems, including emergency lighting, smoke detection, carbon monoxide detection and fire extinguishing equipment.
Furthermore, all Marshall containers are designed for mobility: in addition to being transportable by air, sea, road and rail, they can be stacked in accordance with ISO 1496 specifications for ease of storage and movement, and are rapidly deployable once on site.
The specifications were designed and engineered through a collaboration between Marshall’s team in the UK and Contour Advanced Systems, a Netherlands-based high-tech engineering specialist. Likewise, system integration responsibilities were shared between Marshall’s state-of-the-art production facility in Moncton, Canada and Contour. Marshall’s operations in the Netherlands were also extensively involved in engineering, procurement and production support. Additional work was conducted by Visser Leeuwarden in the Netherlands.
Production began once the designs had passed a series of reviews, with the simplest of the five variants (a general-purpose container) completing production and delivery in 2023. Work continued at pace throughout 2024, with Marshall’s Moncton Facility ramping up its operations just a few months after opening, and completing over 90 containers by the end of the year.
Container #201 was delivered to customer on 17 January, 2025, marking the conclusion of production under this £31 million contract—but not the end of Marshall’s partnership with MatLogCo.
Ongoing support for MatLogCo
We are incredibly grateful to the team at MatLogCo for their guidance and partnership at every step of this programme, and to our partners at Contour and Visser Leeuwarden for their steadfast support.
The NLSC programme has now entered its post-delivery phase, under which Marshall will provide maintenance and support services to MatLogCo for a minimum of 12 years.
Shortly after the delivery of container #201, Marshall hosted a team from the Dutch Ministry Defence, including representatives from MatLogCo, with the aim of learning directly from customers and sponsors, gaining valuable feedback and laying the groundwork for future support.
We are extremely happy with how this project has been realised.
Marshall’s focus on quality and reliability of delivery is clear, and we would like to thank the teams in the UK, Netherlands and Canada enormously for their contribution and dedication.Bas Grotegoed
Project Manager, MatLogCo
Beyond NLSC, Marshall’s Deployable Infrastructure business has partnered with industry leaders including Leonardo, Saab, Kongsberg and Thales to provide our products to armed forces representing the UK, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, France, Australia, NATO and many others.
We are proud to provide mission-critical support to our customers through a range of products that are designed and built to support a broad range of military, humanitarian and civilian missions in even the most extreme operating environments.
