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REVOLUTION IN GLASS LOGISTICS
Page 45
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Usually, glass trailers are made for just one purpose: transporting float glass. Large pieces of float glass, measuring 6x3.2m and often being as thin as 3mm, are both very fragile and very heavy. They are transported on a heavy-duty metal-construction 'glass frame', which is loaded by reversing and then lifted pneumatically.
Because of this, it is not possible to load anything other than glass on a regular glass trailer. This means these trailers must return empty. Logistics companies don't plan long trips, as the empty ride back home would make the whole journey too costly.
But Dutch glass logistics firm Van Hubt has developed a solution that enables trucks to transport glass one way and normal pallets the other.
Starting with a basic curtainsider trailer, the company broke up the loading floor and created a hydraulically operated foldaway glass frame.
Once the driver arrives at the factory, he unfolds the hydraulic frame, rolls the curtains and removes the roof.
Packages of glass weighing in at about six or seven tonnes are put in place by a crane and the operator manoeuvres the glass very gently.
When the glass is loaded, the driver checks all the angles and weak spots to make sure all the glass is in the same position so there are no stress points that could lead to a breakage.
If everything looks good, the driver then fixes the load of glass into place with straps — but not too tightly, again to avoid stress points. The glass frame sinks a couple of inches hydraulically into the floor, increasing the balance of the complete trailer.
After unloading, the driver lets the glass frame sink just under the loading floor of the trailer. which transforms completely into a regular curtainsider that is able to take 34 pallets.
Van Huet has patented its innovation and named it the MaXi-Trailer. The MaXi-Trailer is naturally heavier than a normal trailer, coming in at about 9.8 tonnes empty.
Van Huet expects to cut costs by 10-15% by replacing its current traditional trailers with new MaXi-Trailers "to a large extent".
After a test period of just a year, in which three test trailers covered half a million kilometres, Van Huet has confirmed that the first order of 20 MaXi-Trailers will hit the road in early 2009.