Semi Trailers come in all shapes and sizes, but they are typically 13.6 metre (or 40ft. in old money) in length. As with rigid trucks, the semi trailers can have any type of body fitted. The most common we see on the roads today are the refrigerated semi-trailers (or refeers) that are taking our food to the supermarkets or the skeletal trailers that are taking goods to and from the ports in shipping containers. These containers – usually either 20ft or 40ft are held in place by Twistlocks. At Truckpages we always have a great choice of used semi trailers for sale. These are the trailers used behind a tractor unit, rather than those towed behind a van or rigid truck in drawbar combination. To view these types of trailers click here.
To drive a tractor and trailer combination, the driver needs to have a class 1 HGV licence. Despite improvements in truck technology, driving a 40ft trailer behind a tractor unit is no easy task. The difficulty increases massively when you have to reverse the trailer.
There are hundreds of thousands of flat, curtainside or refrigerated trailers running around the UK’s roads every day. Read the short guid below for the more specialist types of trailers.
Across Europe, the maximum height for a trailer is typically four metres. This is because the bridges over the motorways are only just over this height in many places. In the UK our bridges are higher, which means that we can have overheight trailers.
This has led to the development of double deck trailers that increase the volume that can be loaded and therefore make each trip more effective and better for the environment.
These double deckers often have internal lifts to enable loading of the upper levels – bear in mind that these types of trailers cannot carry dense loads – think polystyrene rather than bricks!
For certain applications using a tipping semi trailer is better than an eight wheel tipper. The main advantage is that the payload is greater – a tri-axle trailer with a three axle tractor unit can have a combined gross train weight of 44 tonnes compared to just 32 tonnes for an 8×4 tipper.
The disadvantage is that tipping trailers are inherently less stable than a rigid tipper. Forget using tipping trailers in places where the ground is not level and solid. For bulk applications in the waste and recycling industry they are perfect where large amounts of waste need to be transferred from recycling centres to the landfill sites or processing centres and incinerators.
These trailers perform a similar role to a tipping trailer – the load gets emptied by the trailer without the use of a crane or forklift – but it can operate on a wider range of terrains.
An ejector trailer uses a hydraulic ram to push out the load from front to rear, whilst the walking floor or moving floor system has a floor that has been designed to move in such a way as it shuffles the load out of the rear of the trailer.
Typically these trailers can be loaded from above and have applications in the agriculture and waste industries. Manufacturers of these types of trailers are Knapen, Legras, Stas and BMI.
Top semi- trailer manufacturers for the UK market are Schmitz, Fruehauf, SDC, Montracon, Dennison and Don Bur.
The new look Truckpages front cover this week shows a set of trailers of interest to truck and plant operators alike. Peter Gilder has a choice of brand new and unused King GTS44 stepframe low loader trailers. Take a closer look at the double flip-toe hydraulic ramps and you'll see the amount of thought went into the specification of these trailers. Why wait for one when you can buy a brand new one ex-stock? New News Inside the magazine, you can read about trailer manufacturer Schmitz Cargobull's first all-electrically powered reefer that has been delivered in the UK. We cover…
To celebrate Truckpages Magazine's fifth birthday we have celebrated and given the magazine a new look with a makeover. The same great magazine now brings you even more - all free of charge. We have added news features inside the magazine giving you a guide to what's on in your industry. Covering areas including new vehicle launches to environmental and legislative issues, we will keep you up to date on the most important truck & trailer news. The photolisting section has been updated as has the fully updated Auction Diary with all the UK's best truck auctions listed. In addition,…
Marine & Cargo has put the first all-electric Schmitz Cargobull S.KOe COOL refrigerated tri-axle semi-trailer into operation in the UK. The zero-emission reefer is working exclusively on the Buckinghamshire-based company’s contract with S.T.I. (U.K.) Ltd, delivering temperature-controlled goods to McDonald’s distribution centres across the UK. Andrew Marshall, Managing Director at Marine & Cargo, says: “We’ve had the S.KOe COOL on the road for a few weeks now and the early signs are really positive. The technology is easy to use, and it will offer our business and our customers huge sustainability benefits in the long run. “We are taking approximately…
TIP is trialling a zero emission ‘e-reefer’ temperature-controlled trailer which enables the trailer’s refrigeration unit to be powered using regenerated energy. This energy is recovered by an ‘e-axle’ during braking or driving downhill and that is subsequently stored in a high voltage battery. The unit’s energy management system is then said to provide power from the battery to the refrigeration unit ‘intelligently’ by engaging the system’s generators when it is most efficient to do so. Solutions from Thermo King and BPW The AxlePower energy recovery system and e-Power axle have been developed in collaboration by Thermo King and leading axle…
Birmingham-based Cargo Express has taken delivery of its first two S.CS MEGA curtainsiders in more than a decade, after being won over by the quality of the Schmitz Cargobull product. The low-riding trailers are fitted with POWER CURTAINS for speedy, safe loading and un-loading. Both the side curtains on the semi-trailers and the roofs incorporate Schmitz Cargobull’s anti-vandal system to protect loads and prevent illegal entry. Joseph O’Reilly, Managing Director at the family-owned transport firm, says: “We’re still running some MEGA trailers we purchased in 2011, so knew from experience that the product is high quality. “The trailers are perfect…