Bringing up the rear in style
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Trailer '97 was the latest outing for the huge biennial Dutch trailer exhibition—it packed Kortrijk's five halls with exhibitors from all over the Continent. Any associated UK operator or manufacturer with pan-European business interests can hardly afford to miss this superb show.
While there was plenty of transport innovation on show, beneath the surface a foreign invasion is underway. Every continental manufacturer now sees the strong pound as a green light to attack our trailer market with some very competitive prices.
ASCA, the Berg group, LAG, Hobur group, Krone, Latre, STAS...the list seems endless and it represents a real threat to the UK's trailer building industry If the Government doesn't react British factories will quickly become a vast chain of storage depots, and skills will vanish forever—a sad legacy for our children to inherit.
Every axle manufacturer had disc brakes on display and, duly impressed by the huge service intervals they are achieving, many manufacturers believe they will become the norm within two years.
In January, temperature monitoring becomes law in Germany; hence the interest in CCI's Euroscan system.
• Carrosserie aril's latest ATP-C side-access reefer uses Aubineau's insulated version of the AKA patented slide-and-swing side door design. With the front door swung forward, the next three-piece section folds to the centre then slides away for load access. The rear group of panels fold and slide to the rear, exposing the rest of the interior. Epone-based ASCA, which has sold more than 300 dry-freight models, is looking for sales on the UK market.
• Atcomex's latest 60m3 pressurised bulk powder tanker tips in an extraordinary way, via twin Penta hydraulic rams from its tubular base frame. One of 20 for Hi van Benton, the show model uses its chassis tubes to carry the hydraulics, pneumatic discharge system and electrical supply. With triple RO-R axles and air suspension, Jost rear supports, and Groeneveld auto-lube the Atcomex tanker tares out at a commendable 5.8 tonnes.
• Bauwens of Stekene is the first Belgian haulier to specify a five-axled drawbar with full air suspension, discs all round and Wa6co EBS brake-by-wire. Bauwens' Mercedes 6x2 Actros has a lifting/trailing rear axle; its Renders trailer uses BPW disc-braked centre axles with twin 19.5in wheels, Renders also supplies the 8.1m front/7.3m rear drive-through bodies.
• Trailor has a large share of the French market and exports more than 1,000 units a year, but this manufacturer is actively looking for more sales beyond the Continent. Its latest curtainsider, the Maxilateral, is 13.62m long with an inner height of 2.6m. It uses aluminium in the bulkhead, rear door frame, pallet chest, Omega profiles and Alcoa wheels to weigh in at just under 6.0 tonnes. • Lokaren-based Stevens is all of 127 years old, but there's nothing old-fashioned about the firm or its products. Next year it will launch an all-composite trailer; the only steel components will be the kingpin and air suspension spring. Its trial rig is a timber trailer, but Stevens' show exhibit, a GRP boxvan trailer for hauling woodchips, will match the composite trailer chassis nicely, says managing director 1 Verhaeghe.
The 13,45m tri-axle exhibit has GRP sides, bulkhead and rear doors, It's equipped with Hyva tipgeor, RO-R disc-braked axles and a donkey engine under the chassis. "In GRP the body is on a par with aluminium," says Verhaeghe. "But on our new composite trailer it will save well over a tonne." Stevens also showed a clever street trader trailer frame with electro-hydraulic leg rollers for solo positioning,
• Following 18 months of tests, Palfinger and Libin-based Deorn's radio-controlled Crayler forklift is ready For general release. Its Lombardini engine powers all four wheels. Capacity is 1.5 tonnes at up to 2.85m; the Crayler weighs 1,9 tonnes. When not required it folds hydraulically and stows in a secure box under a trailer chassis, At £30,800 apiece they're not cheap but demand must be highPalfinger warns there's an eightweek waiting list.
• Krone is another trailer manufacturer with UK interests: its £1Gm investment in an automated shotblasting and painting shop capable of processing 55 chassis a day is a strong incentive to get out and sell. The plant is currently producing 35 chassis a day and all its show exhibits, especially the new Combiliner-2000 trailer, were beautifully finished. Equipped with a tilt cover, Edscha sliding roof and coil wells, the Combiliner is already making inroads in the UK. GB Express has 65 on British Steel contracts and two of its subbies, Delta Transport and SIT, have taken 10 and 25 respectively.
• Since its take-over by the Berg group in /smeary 1996 there's been a resurgence at LAG, which is now producing a dozen tankers a week. Its UK interests are served by TCL of Brighouse; it numbers Hill Hire, Norman Lewis and James Durram among ih clients. LAG has recently devel oped a special lining for an add tanker that has enabled LAG to build the 211,500-litre vessel in aluminium, shaving up to 400kg off the weight of the stainless-steel model. The show model is one of 10 built for Vervaake; they weigh in at lust 7.0 tonnes. • Van Hool plans to deliver 4,600 vehicles and containers in this, its 50th year. Among these are its new megaliner and coil-carrying tilt trailers. The ferry-spec VH100 mega-trailer, exhibited with its raising roof, is one of a batch for local haulier de Vreese. It features new curtain tensioning ratchets and release mechanisms. With BPW running gear and twin 265/70R 19.55 de Vreese artics couple at 930mm. Tare weight is 8.32 tonnes, compared with the Alcoa-equipped coiler's 6.1 tonnes.
• Local manufacturer STAS, which is targeting British operators, showed its new all-aluminium tipping trailer built in the Guillaume style. Known as a half-piper, the 27m3 curved tipper design has been built with the UK market in mind; features include an Edbro ram, RO-R running gear, Groeneveld auto-lube and a 4,8-tonne tare weight. The 6.0mm floor pan is slightly thicker at the rear (at 8.0mm) and dips some 270mm below the level of a conventional flat-floored tipper. This, says SIAS, enhances stability.
• Coolstar imports Isofret inner linings for its van conversions from Le Capitaine. When a panel van needs to be replaced the interior can be swapped over too. The Vito version has a shapely high roof that encloses the Thermo King EV-080/5 refrigeration system (which can be battery or hydraulically driven). Coolstar also produces fridge body kits to suit Peugeot Experts, the larger Sprinter vans, and Renault's latest Kangoo and Master vans. • Stokota, with factories in Belgium, Poland and the Czech Republic, manufactures a range of petroleum and vacuum tankers for trailers or rigids. This short 13,000-litre toploading fuel tanker one of three For Eric Hofman of Zele) is based on a sleeper-cabbed MAN 18.264 rigid. It offers an impressive 14.2hp/tonne power-to-weight ratio at its rated 18.6 tonnes GVW.
• Fruehauf's new Speed Slider Maxi trailer comes with a choice of three heights for the tilt bodywork. With a 2.7m-high side aperture there's a 6.08 tonne deadweight; the 2.5m version tips the scales at 5.98 tonnes. Steel suspension can save a further 140kg, and with Benalu's aluminium chassis the weight comes down to 5.5 tonnes. Fruehauf's 6.04tonne show model is almost identical to a batch of 50 which were recently supplied to Curries of Dumfries. • Tridec's HF-0 steering axle and shallow TD link system contribute to the excellent manoeuvrability of Albert Heyn's single-deck City reefers. Wilson Double-Deck built the first batch; then the rising value of Sterling forced the price up and Van Eck took over, supplying another 20. Heyn's latest batch of triple-compartment semis on tandem axles lower almost to ground level for multi-drop highstreet deliveries. Access to the front (frozen) and mid (chilled) sections is via side doors: a hydraulic ramp and shutter serves the rear /ambient) section.
BRIEFS
• SAE's new 9.0-tonne trailer axle carries a threeyear/500,000km warranty; its sister company Gigant's new Protec axle range extends from 9-16 tonnes.
• Neway Anchorlok showed its new RL 94 air suspension system weighing 136kg alongside a spring brake for air disc brakes which will be available next spring.
• Kooi Aap's latest piggyback forklift weighs just 1,180kg. Thanks to hydraulically retracting legs it protrudes just 1,005mm when stowed.
• Mechanic International of Asse is marketing the UKmade IMP HGV wheel clamp for 17.5-22.5in wheels with a range of locks for kingpins, container doors and drawbar hitches.
• Aluvan has developed two new body systems: the Pivo body for beer and drinks transportation and the BreadFast body for, as the name implies, bread. The Pivo features sliding door-panelled curtains while the Bread-Fast hos double sliding doors at each side.
• Chereau's Tecnogam reefer has a reprofiled front bulkhead with radiussed corners and an elastomer top profile with rivet-free cappings. The show model features Mercedes disc-braked axles on Hendrickson air suspension: they're said to be achieving more than 600,000km on the discs and 300,000km on the pads.
• The Schmitz Cargobull curtainsider shown at Kortrijk has Schmitz's own sliding roof, room For 33 Europa!lets and an extra decking capability with height adjustment to boost its capacity to 67 pallets. It also features Mercedes discbraked axles with Weweler air suspension which has a longer (280mm) stroke to cater for standard or megatrailer designs. Schmitz now has more than 1,000 similar trailers running with Mercedes disc brakes which are said to offer shorter stopping distances and longterm benefits.
• Talson has built more than 240 air cargo trailers this year; the latest versions are built to combine this work with the carriage of garments and the potted plants. The low-height insulated show trailer has a Thermo King SMX-II fridge unit to cope with temperature-sensitive goods, with floor rollers For handling four Jumbocontainers. It's one of 30 100m3 mega-trailers built for Dutch haulier Balkenende, running on twin 215/75R 17.5s, • Mercedes-Benz dealer Mudie-Bond has introduced overnight servicing with an "in late afternoon out next morning" facility; its Tewkesbury workshops are now open 24 hours a day.
• Following Don-Bur's reorganisation, which cuts the group into two, dry freight, reefer (including Chereau) and trailer sales are now handled from its headquarters at Mossfield Road, Langton. After-sales, which was handled by Langton Commercial Vehicles, is now looked after by DonBur Service from sites in Stoke, Newcastle-underLyme and Nottingham.
• On 5 January 1 998 BPW will be moving its UK base from Blaby, Leics to a new and larger 3,800m2 site in Legion Way, Meridian Business Park, Leicester, • Kenning Car Van and Truck Rental has introduced a fleet of land Rover Defenders which are available from any national outlet. Models include 110 Station Wagons, 110 Hard Tops and 90 Hard Tops; prices start at C154 a week.
• Rockwell Automotive has changed its name to Mentor Automotive.
• Continental Tyres has announced earnings up by 48% for the first nine months of 1997; CV tyre sales grew by 18%.