Coffin-maker: More Dutch too obese for normal size caskets

Dutch coffin makers are seeing an increasing demand for larger coffins, both in length and in width. "It is a trend, we are getting more and more obese", Jan Heddes, director of coffin builder Bogra in Enkhuizen, said to BNR. Admittedly only 40 of the 70 thousand coffins sold by Enkhuizen Bogra this year were extra large. But last year there were only 25. The standard model coffin has a length of 1.95 meters and a width of 55 centimes. "Now we see an increase in extreme outside dimensions, ie, longer than two meters and wider than 85 centimeters." These very large coffins can't be built with the Bogra machines and have to be made specially by order. This makes them significantly more expensive. Another problem is that many crematoriums can't handle coffins wider than 80 or 90 centimeters, according to Heddes. "So people have to be careful."