Firms go cool on shows
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by Steve Banner • So where were Gray & Adams, Lamberet, and
Schmitz? Or Carrier, ThermoKing, and GAH? Not at the eighth Temperature Controlled Storage and Distribution Show, held at Manchester's G-:VIEX exhibition centre. And on the first day even the organisers were admitting that the event was a shadow of its former self.
"It's the most disappointing one we've put on." agreed John Clarke, managing director of FMJ Inter-national Publications. "We believed we were doing what was wanted, but it seems as though the industry has changed its mind over the past two years."
He attributes the lack of support for the exhibition among key companies to the growing number of rival shows. These include the Institute of Road Transport Engineers' exhibition at Telford and the bodybuilders' show at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre earlier this year. G-MEX isn't cheap either: "We're going to have to look at an out-of-town venue so that we can match the price demands of the industry," Clarke says.
Some exhibitors, including GRP Massey group chairman Don Rastrick expressed reservations over the show's longterm future. Despite being the largest producer of refrigerated van conversions in the UK, GRP Massey only had a small stand.
"Our commitment is to Europe. and any money we spend at shows now will increasingly be spent at major exhibitions like Amsterdam or Paris," Rastrick says.
The one thing Clarke didn't try to do was blame the recession; because as far as most bodybuilders and suppliers of ancillary equipment are concerned, there isn't one. Margins are still tight but order books are bulging and many of the exhibitors reported that they were having to invest in new production facilities to keep pace with demand.
• Refrigerated Vehicles exhibited a prototype body fitted with a BOCdesigned eutectic system which uses liquid nitrogen to bring the temperature down rapidly. "It pulls it down in an hour rather than the 10 hours it takes using an electric condensing set," says sales director Mike Stone. Mounted on an Iveco Ford Cargo 120E15 chassis, the 18ft body is of all-bonded GRP construction. The eutectic beams are stainless steel and fitted longitudinally to the sidewalls behind the shelves.
The refrigeration system can reduce the temperature to —33°C.
• A driver carrying valuable refrigerated loads or cash is at risk from violent assault from thieves who may finish the robbery by shutting their victim inside the icy-cold reefer body. Solomon is making it easy for drivers to gain their freedom by fitting an unobtrusive insulated flap to the truck's rear doors. This allows a trapped driver to reach the exterior door handle, and release himself.
Solomon was also exhibiting a body on a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 312D chassis cab. Unusually for a vehicle of its size, it was fitted with a Thermoking 5D2 Max diesel-fuelled refrigeration unit; the Sprinter is used on intensive multi-drop delivery work by an operator in Scotland and the diesel unit is needed to help it maintain the load at the correct temperature. The drawback to this system is that payload is reduced to just 800kg.
• Global Truck Equipment ies designed with Renault's They are built up from foam, and are mounted on of Peterborough used TCS & D to unveil two new hodMessenger and Midliner chassis in mind.
GRP/plywood sandwich panels insulated with styrolightweight steel underframes. normally fitted with a GAH Javelin JF43 refrigeration emperature down to 3°C for operations involving up to
The Messenger body is system which will pull the t 25 drops a day the show mode sported a Sabre fridge). The Midliner body offers the same level of performance when fitted with a GAH Super Sabre SSF43 system. It will maintain a temperature of —18°C with the same are contemplated, says Global.
Saes manager Tony Uff detects a swing away from 7.5-tonners to 6.5-tanners for temperature-controlled urban delivery work. Pedestrians perceive the latter to be less threatening, he points out, and going to the lower weight means very little loss in payload plus a saving in front-end outlay.
The Messenger body costs £1,120, while the Midliner body costs 21,240. • James and Bloom's Eurocool 2000 insulated wide-slatted roller shutter door. It's claimed to be 25% lighter than other insulated shutters. • Hull-based Paneltex was displaying a body specially designed for Rossfish and mounted on one of the first Mercedes-Benz 412D Sprinter chassis-cabs to appear in the UK.
Fully-bonded, with a GRP outer skin and matching cappings, it has an interior finished with embossed Glasbord Frp panels which are popular in the USA as a liner for refrigerated and dry freight bodies. Paneltex says it chose them because they are particularly abrasion and stain resistant. • Starliner pulled the wraps off its Cargoline insulated roll container, which comes complete with its own refrigeration system. Available in 550, 900, and 1,100-litre sizes, it's suitable for chilled and frozen produce.
• Bangor, Northern Irelandbased rhermomax launched its SM DUE mobile datalogger. It allows the driver to transfer temperature information on the load on to a smart card. • GRP Massey's first reefer conversion on the latest 4.6-tonne GVW 412D Mercedes-Benz Sprinter broke cover on the Eberspacher stand. It has a payload of roughly Iwo tonnes and was shown fitted with an Eberspacher K800 RF refrigeration unit incorporating a slimline rooftop condenser and an engine-driven compressor.
• GH Zeal launched its Thermoprint 600 temperature monitor at the show. Its 32K memory can hold details of more than 4,000 transactions.
• Simark Engineering has come up with a system which allows load restraint beams to transfer from vertical to horizontal tracks, and vice versa. It uses a specially designed junction. When the beam slides on to it a catch is automatically unlocked, which allows the track to swivel. The beam ends have a simple catch mechanism which enables the beam to move along the track to the required position. It can then be locked in place.
Fitting the entire package to a standard 13.6m semi-trailer could cost up to £1,500. But as it's almost all aluminium, there's no significant weight penalty.
• Zepro concessionaire Longdon Truck Equipment's latest offering was a two-tonne capacity SZH slider tail-lift with an aluminium platform; it is available with roll pallet stops, weighs 475kg, costs £3,650, and can be specified a single or a double-folding platform. Longdon was also displaying the new RZ.75 Zepro tail-lift. • Hope Technical Developments was displaying a new version of its Scrutineer trailer diagnostic package. This latest model—RCSC MKIV BRTcan measure brake lag/ release times and test the electrical and airbrake circuits. "We decided to introduce this feature after a number of requests from trailer builders and maintenance specialists," says products manager John Hope. The latest Scrutineer is £2,500 with a brake release feature or £1,595 without.