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Platypus outfits
T thoroughly enjoyed reading your report on 1 the Dutch dual-purpose semi trailer operated by Fransens Transport (CM 13-19 Nov).
As you say, those guys in the Netherlands don't stint when it comes to specifying the right truck for the job. But presumably their rates are better than here in the UK, which allows for higher levels of investment.
As usual, however, nothing is new. I have come across pictures of a number of dualpurpose outfits operated abroad back in the 1970s in a book entitled Trucks of the World's Highways. These dual-purpose tanker/platforms were always known as "platypus" outfits, presumably because they were neither one thing nor the other. Perhaps we could adopt that term here. Incidentally, I fear your correspondent may have got it slightly wrong when he implied that a 2+3 combination can operate legally in Holland at 50 tonnes.
Certainly 50 tonnes is achievable on six or more axles, but five-axled outfits are, I believe, restricted to 44 tonnes, although individual axle capacities would offer higher weights.
And if the trailer tares at 9,800kg, the Volvo FH380 Globetrotter at 7,100kg (at least), and milk weighs 1.033kg per litre, how is it possible to load 25,000 litres and stay within 40 tonnes overall? Or is this how the Dutch hauliers pay for their expensive kit?
Martin D Phippard, Westward Commercial Vehicles, Avonmouth, Bristol