The Bogiemen
Page 42
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IN A reported rise in police checks on container lorries in East Anglia is apparently making hauliers in the region particularly careful about overloading and dimension-related offences. For example, Cambridge magistrates recently tined HA Boyse & Son of Kempston, Bedford and its driver £695 for using a 38-tonne artic at 35 tonnes gross weight with an insufficient outer axle spread. The skeletal trailer and artic had exceeded a 32.5-tonne limit by being 483mm (19in) too short.
Moving 6m containers weighing 24 tonnes or more on short skeletal trailers presents a problem due to the regulations governing distances between certain axles and the overall vehicle length.
The length of a typical 'short' trailer that carries just one 6.1m box limits an artic's gross train weight to around 33 tonnes, depending on the axle configuration. This is due to a section of the Construction & Use Regulations which demands stepped minimum distances between the rearmost axles of the tractor and semi-trailer, relative to rising train weight, Minimum overall length limits also apply above 33 tonnes.
The alternative is to load the offending container onto a full length trailer, but this does not cure the loading problem, as traction and load distribution demand that the container rides amidships — assuming adequate twistlocks or bolsters are available. Also, using a longer and therefore heavier trailer pushes the train weight closer to — if not over — the 38-tonne limit, with corresponding risk to axle loads.
Maxilode Transport Equipment of Wisbech, Cambs is promoting sliding-bogie tandem and tri-axle semi-trailers as a way round these problems. With any short trailer carrying heavy 6.1m containers operators have to simultaneously keep within the law while maintaining adequate kingpin load for traction purposes and keeping the doors over the tailboard for unloading goods. A sliding bogie could be the solution, despite the extra costs and maintenance requirement.
Maxilode's short trailer with sliding bogie can be supplied as a new or