SMOOTHSLID
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Continuing our series on winners of last year's CM Trailer of the Year awards, we visit Norfolk-based Allan Whitby which uses the Fruehauf skeletal trailer that scooped the Intermodal prize.
Clenchwarton, King's Lynn, Norfolkbased Allan Whitby is a keen Fruehauf supporter; and it's not just because the Fruehauf plant and his home are in the same county It is an admiration horn out of experience with the company's products.
He's now on his second Fruehauf sliding skeletal, which can be extended to accommodate two 20ft containers. "In fact it will take virtually any size of box, although I'm not too sure about the legal position when it comes to carrying a 45-footer," he says.
It arrived in early January. "1 had the previous one for five-and-a-half years, and put a new set of brake shoes on after two years," he recalls. "After that I never really had to spend any money on it, and I never had any trouble with it." His old skeletal could take a single 20ft box, but could be extended enough to allow Whitby to run legally at 38 tonnes.
"I'd only been going 12 months when I bought it," he continues. "I spoke to several trailer manufacturers, but Fruehauf was the only one to come back to me with a sensible reply. Since then they've always been very helpful. When I had some problems with my first trailer after the warranty ran out, they did their best to put it right, and they didn't charge me. They've always treated me all right."
Weight limits
While the old trailer had monoleaf suspension, his new skeletal—which won Commercial Motor's Trailer of the Year award for its class—rides on air. Whitby suspects that UK weight limits will increase to 44 tonnes sooner or later, and it has been designed with that in mind.
A triaxle with a lifting front axle, the newcomer employs ROR running gear with steel wheels shod with 385/65 R22.5 Michelin tyres, and Jost landing legs. There are six twistlocks either side, and Whitby has specified a toolbox and an automatic chassis lubrication system.
He fitted the reverse warning bleeper himself, and has also installed a full-width rear mudflap because without it the back lights were always getting dirty.
Fruehauf arranged the finance; Whitby prefers to buy his tackle rather than lease it. "They gave me the chance to see if I could get a cheaper finance deal, but they beat the prices I could get anywhere else," he says.
Whitby concedes that his trailer is probably on the heavy side: "I fancy it's about half a tonne heavier than a lot of similar skeletals" but points out that the lift-axle adds to the unladen weight. In his view you can't have strength as well as ultralight construction.
When married to his F-registered Daf 95 Series 350hp 6x2 twin-steer tractor unit it will handle a 21.3-tonne payload in a 20ft box running at 38 tonnes. "I've never had anything slide out so easily or seen one move so sweetly," he says. "It has six rollers, three either side, and I can slide it fully-freighted at tickover."
r King's
.1990. Whitby hauls containers out of Felixstowe on behalf of Celwood, with the occasional run to Southampton, and has worked for the firm for the past four years. He's also paid the odd visit to the Willesden rail terminal in London, "I've never been out of the country, and I've never fancied doing Continental work," he says. "In my opinion there's no money in it."
There's a lot of congestion at Felixstowe, says Whitby, and it can take ages for trucks to tip and be reloaded. He believes more investment in container handling equipment is necessary "During one week earlier this year I went into the port four times, and spent a total of 18 hours just sitting there," he says. "That's about the worst I've had it.
"And the parking restrictions imposed on trucks around Felixstowe are ridiculous given that the town depends on the port for its income."
Container haulage rates need improving too, he believes.
"Seven years ago I was paying 32p plus VAT for a litre of diesel, and the rate was 65p a mile, now the rate is averaging 85p to 87p, but I'm paying 51p plus VAT a litre.
"The reason I don't get into financial difficulties is that Celwood pays on time. That helps because the bank knows the money is going into my account every month on the same day.
"What's more, I get the same rate whether I'm loaded or running back empty," he continues. "And if I'm loaded back as well as outCelwood supplies all the work—I get an extra 10p a mile on the round trip."
Whithy has fuel cards, but quite often uses his Visa credit card at forecourts if that works out cheaper.
His Daf 95 was three-and-a-half years old and had covered 148,000km when he acquired it. The previous owner, a major fleet operator, had used it almost exclusively on shunting work: hence the low mileage.
I9nition
Now it's covered 600,000km, is smokier than Whitby would wish to see, and is returning 6.5mpg to 7mpg on work that takes him all over the country.
Apart front the smoke, the Daf has proved fairly reliable. "I had the second relay on the ignition go one time, and I've had a couple of air pipes blow, but otherwise it's never been any trouble. There have been minor things, but you're always going to get those whatever you run," he says.
An owner-operator for getting on for seven years, he drove for other hauliers previously, and before that spent 12 years as a mobile crane driver.
Setting up his own business wasn't easy, he admits. "I had a few bob put by to begin with—not a vast amount—but I had no help from the government, despite the fact that they tell you that there are all these grants available to help you start up," he says, "Then I had somebody go bust on me after I'd been trading for 18 months, and a gearbox pack up on me at the same time."
That could have sunk him, hut he battled on. He'd always paid his bills promptly, so when he asked the gearbox repairer, the garage he uses for servicing, and his tyre supplier to extend his credit, they were ready to trust hint.
"I told them that they could either bear with me, or take me to court and get nothing," he says. "As it turned out, I was able to pay them all in about three to four months."
Before he bought the 95 Series he was running a Daf 2800 bought from another operator.
"When I got rid of it it had done just over one million kilometres, and the engine had never had the head off," he says. "That's why I went for another Daf, although I don't think this one will do quite as well," he says.
He's paying for the trailer over two-and-ahalf years. Once his final payment has been made, his plan is to offload the Daf and buy a new tractor unit.
"If I was buying one today, I'd go for a Mercedes-Benz Actros," he says. He's attracted to it because of the fuel consumption reports he's read, and believes the saving he would make by operating a more frugal vehicle would go some way towards helping him to pay for it.
However, he reckons that his fuel consumption would improve drastically if Norfolk had proper motorway links. "That would give us another half to one mile to the gallon in top gear," he says.
"As things stand all we've got is lots of bypasses, and lots of roundabouts. One bypass locally has got five roundabouts within a four-mile stretch.
"How come there are motorways around Liverpool and Blackpool that only see six or seven cars an hour, but we have hundreds of lorries in this area stuck in queues because we don't even have proper dual carriageways in many places?" he demands to know. "After all, we all pay the same road tax!"
H by Steve Banner