Philip Reich, owner of transport company, Reich, has taken delivery of two new vehicles at the Schmitz Cargobull factory in Altenberge.
Reich now owns two Schmitz Cargobull curtainsiders equipped with Power Curtains. These trailers can be configured into an EcoDuo combination by being connected to a dolly and pulled by a prime mover or tractor unit.
Reich will use this combination in Finland, in cooperation with Logistics Oy, to to deliver transport jobs.
Schmitz Cargobull CEO, Andreas Schmitz, and Sales Manager, Benjamin Bröderdörp, attended the handover ceremony.
“We opted for the EcoDuo combination because we generally have one route of approx. 600 kilometres in Finland and it has just one unloading point,” said Philip Reich.
“On the outward journey, we deliver various machine components for the vehicle industry and the return journey transports timber.
“To do this, we need a flexible vehicle combination with a large loading volume,” he said. “And our customers are impressed by this concept, too.”
Each of the vehicles are equipped with an underfloor coupling at the rear for accommodating the dolly. The robust chassis features an offset wheelbase in combination with a Schmitz Cargobull steering axle and 385/55 R 22.5 Schmitz Cargobull tyres. The Power Curtain includes a lath-free structure and features an anti-theft mesh tarpaulin as standard.
In Germany, two semi-trailer tractor units take the trailers to the ferry; after the ferry arrives in Finland, the two trailers are then connected via a dolly and the combination hits the road – pulled by just one semi-trailer tractor unit.
The total tractor-trailer weight of the tractor and the first trailer remains unchanged at 40 tonnes; the weight of the second trailer can reach 36 tonnes to comply with current Scandinavian regulations.
“So far, we have been able to deliver around 100 combinations of this vehicle concept to Scandinavia and Spain,” said Andreas Schmitz.
“In the long term, we regard the EcoDuo as an environmentally and economically efficient transport solution on suitable main routes across Europe,” he said.
Standard legal principles and suitably prepared infrastructure are basic requirements for a cross-border, Europe-wide solution. Furthermore, there must also be an option to uncouple the vehicles again on defined roads and spread between two tractor units.
“Depending on the enforceability of the requirements, I can imagine that the use of this vehicle combination will work really well on marked routes, particularly in Germany,” said Philip Reich.
“It also makes sense when it comes to ecological criteria as we can do without one of the tractor units on certain routes.
“Another major advantage of the EcoDuo combination compared to long HGVs is that I can use standard tractor units and trailers, which I can then use for other purposes in normal day-to-day business,” he said.
For transport jobs in Finland, according to Schmitz Cargobull, drivers of this vehicle combination receive special comprehensive training, similar to courses for driving long HGVs.
In other news, Schmitz Cargobull named the new leader of its Telematics subsidiary.
Last year, Schmitz Cargobull secured a sustainability award for its EcoDuo transport concept.