Corus and TDG have put their heads together to come up with a new multi-purpose trailer which, Biglorryblog learns, "will help to reduce the steel producer's impact on the environment. The 45-footer tri-axles can carry steel loads of various shapes and sizes--from coils of strip steel and wire rod to sheets of plate steel, beams and tubes up to 13.6m long. And this loading flexibility means that empty running can be cut as the trailers offer increased versatility and greater opportunities to carry a return load." BLB also understands that Corus has been working in partnership with TDG since 2006 "...when the logistics specialist set up a centralised planning platform to manage Corus' entire
By linking outbound journeys with return legs and more efficient planning, the system is reducing the number of miles travelled by trucks delivering Corus products by a million a year. Overall, this has led to annual savings of 1,315 tonnes of CO2 emissions and 500,000 litres of diesel." That's quite a reduction in the old footprint. Now click through here for more...
Mark Starosolsky, operations director at TDG, tells BLB: "The idea for this trailer came from one of our operations planners. For us, getting this trailer off the drawing board and on to the road in a matter of months demonstrates TDG's ability to turn a great concept into a workable solution. We're currently working on similarly ground-breaking trailer projects in other areas of our business."
Re: Trailer designs to reduce deadheading:
I seem to have some foggy childhood memory of seeing ore trailers somewhere in Canada fitted with large fuel tanks on their underbellies.
They would haul ore going outbound, of course, and bring diesel for the mine equipment on the return trip.
I'm sorry that I can't be more specific. Has anybody else seen or heard of this?