French trim York
Page 16
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YORK will be showing a thinwalled version of its Thermovan refrigerated semi-trailer at the Scottish Show.
This is the result of a marketing agreement between York and Klegefrance, a consortium of French bodybuilders.
The Thermovan body will be built by Lecapitaine of St Lo in Normandy.
The internal body width is 2.43m (7ft 11.6in), which means that standard metric pallets can be carried out side by side.
Both the thin-walled version and the existing 2.32m (7ft 7n.) width Thermovan are built to meet the requirements of Class C ATP although, to achieve this, the thin version cannot be fitted with side doors.
The insulating material is Klegecell, an expanded pvc foam comprising individual cells filled with an inert gas.
Klogecell is produced in three different densities with the highest-density material being used for the side walls.
To achieve the required overall thickness efficiency, the floor and roof thickness have been increased, a penalty which York claims will be outweighed by the increased internal width.
Because of the thin-walled construction, no load restraint devices or meat rails can be incorporated; instead, floor to ceiling load-locking bars are fitted.
The body is self-supporting, and mounted on a twin-rail York Frigoroute chassis which is of lightweight construction without cross-members and a 100mm (4in) neck to keep down the overall height.
The floor's insulating pvc core is bonded on each side to a ply sandwich panel with the standard floor surface being polyester.
This floor surface has a twoyear "fair wear and tear" warranty; an aluminium floor can be supplied but it does not carry the same warranty.
The price for a standard Thermovan to UK specification without a refrigeration unit is £13/14,000 with the premium for the thin-walled version being £700.
York claims that a complete unit (including Thermo King Super Boss SB150, fuel tank, batteries, thermal recorder, external thermometer and Load Lok) will weigh 7,150kg (7 tons 1cwt).
The company reckons to sell about 80 Thermovans next year.