In the business of getting load A to point B, you really don’t want to keep Truck C in the dock for any longer than necessary. That, in a few liberty-taking lines, is a summation of the walking floor/moving floor trailer business model. Speedy loading and controlled discharge make for a happy trucker – and a happy trucker earns the most on the road.
So why wouldn’t everyone run with a walking floor? Speaking to Alex Adams or Jan de Kraker, that’s hardly a question that needs an answer. They’re totally sold on the concept, and see no reason why you shouldn’t be, too. As UK operations manager for the company, Adams puts the case for Titan Trailers, the self-proclaimed premium product manufacturer from Teesside in the North of England. Meanwhile, de Kraker – as the name might suggest – is CEO of the company that carries his name, Kraker Trailers, headquartered in The Netherlands.
True to say, the moving floor comes in the proverbial 57 varieties. The British bin liner is very different from the continental corn mover – and Polish potatoes need different care than a load of Irish peat. Yet, the closer you examine the tri-axle box on wheels, the more it becomes apparent that the only defining traits of the species are that oblong profile and the wheel arrangement.
On the move
Friction-free logistics is what we all aspire to, but that’s not what moving floors are all about. Quite the opposite. You don’t need to be intimately familiar with the Amontons-Coulomb Laws. Adams and and de Kraker can quote the science behind friction for you. All you want to know is unladen weight and payload. On that, at least, the duo – and the more than two dozen manufacturers around Europe – can agree.
Deep in the south of The Netherlands, where the crops are cultivated from the perfectly flat landscape, the biggest barn of all belongs to Kraker Trailers. In the idyllically rural surroundings, there is an amusing irony that the self-styled masters in moving floor trailers have their manufacturing plant in the tiny township of Axel.
In these unlikely surroundings, de Kraker is a smooth prince, in a business where friction is king. He took the company to this location in 2015 and is eager to show off the work of his factory to anyone who cares to make the trip (hint: it’s much easier to find if you come up from Belgium instead of trying to find your way down from Amsterdam).
The heresy, as challenged by the continental competition, is the adherence to another Greek law of physics: Archimedes. Kraker believes in screws and – in as much as can be achieved – it bolts its trailers together. It’s a proud boast of de Kraker that a driver rolled one of his bolted wonders into a ditch (pictured right). After righting it and re-attaching the tractor (presumably with a more diligent driver) it was straight back on the road.
Now, some might claim that a bolted-together trailer has all the integrity of a knockoff copy of a Scandinavian flat-packed bookcase. However, Kraker believes that aerospace technology lets the trailer flex, in the way that an airline fuselage does – and that’s all the better for longevity. That may be true, but as that errant driver found out, they still don’t fly.
The Kraker factory is not quite a no-weld zone, but the maverick manufacturer has one bolt-on accessory that it thinks will change the game. Kraker’s ‘Moving Smart’ system is indeed a black box, which you can find bolted to the underside of the chassis. It was demonstrated to good effect – with many interested observers – at September‘s IAA Transportation showin Hanover.
Titans of industry
Once upon a time, heads-up telemetry was the reserve of fighter pilots. Nowadays, it’s expected in every other posh saloon, be it manufactured in Silicon Valley or Stuttgart – and now in Zeeland, too. That battle-hardened software from the luxury car market
has found its way into the battleground that is the moving floor trailer market. Then again, since three-axles of moving floor trailer is about as high tech as it gets – and the purchase price is equally high end – you’ll want to keep your new pride and joy on the road as much as possible.
Adams says fleet availability is even more important, given that there has been a shift in how haulage firms are remunerated. “Getting paid by the load used to be the norm,” he says. “Now, there’s a trend towards payment by weight. I can see how there would be advantages for both parties: running a full load is more economical on several levels, including a potential reduction in the number of trips on any one job. That makes the operation more environmentally responsible, too.”
EU regulations mean that a level of telemetry is already mandatory. Adams is already fitting tyre pressure monitoring and reflation systems as standard – and retrofitting to order. Across in Zeeland, de Kraker is going down that road, too.
“The new Moving Smart trailer’s telemetry system gathers data via sensors on all of the trailer’s key parameters, providing the vehicle operator with a range of insights into the performance and operation of the trailer,” he says. It doesn’t end there, though. All this space-age technology means you can set out with your trailer, not only with more computing power than an Apollo moon shot, but you get mission control back at the manufacturer’s base as well. It’s not quite a case of “Holland, we have a problem”, but it is all about getting to issues before they develop into something mission-critical.
“The data gathered is sent via 5G to an in-house-developed platform,” explains de Kraker. “Vehicle operators can log in via the Kraker dashboard to monitor their trailers in real time. Alerts warn operators immediately of any issues detected.”
Market forces
Titan takes a different view that suits its radically different customer base. Up in the slightly less than laminate smooth landscape of north-east England, Adams champions the skill of the Teesside welders. Their steady hands and diligent work do credit to the robust design of their Canadian heritage.
British specification trailers are shipped in from Titan’s Canadian plant, for fabrication, assembly and fitting out on Teesside. “Titan Trailers is one and the same with our Canadian partners,” says Adams. “The moving floor assembly comes from specialists at Keith Manufacturing in Oregon, built to our parameters. They arrive here containerised for assembly and we add all the UK specification parts – including axles and lighting rig – all manufactured locally as much as possible.” Around 1,800 individual welds later and it’s on to detailing and finishing, which is all carried out in-house. “It’s a tow-away service,” says Adams.
Customer experience
In Britain, it’s not all rocks and refuse. Out in Norfork, Simon Lee runs Greenhaul, a business based on agricultural bulk and biomass. He says he saw a gap in the market – and he realised there would be an opportunity for a moving floor haulier with a focus on green energy. Biomass is certainly a growing sector. All those fossil fuel power stations are either being decommissioned or converted to run biomass. It’s a lucrative income stream for farmers – and a valuable load for hauliers, too.
Up in Scotland, there’s another market that has made a success story, Yuill & Dodds. Operating on the not-very-mean streets of Blantyre, eight miles from the centre of Glasgow, the leafy suburb wears its history with pride. From farming to mining – and now to modern logistics – the town is familiar with the distinctive blue and red-liveried trucks.
“We have been a customer of Titan Trailers for over 20 years now, purchasing over 50 trailers in that time,” says Brian Yuill, the company’s managing director. “We always use the Titans for the tough waste work where others just can’t withstand the arduous conditions. Purchasing direct from the manufacturer we feel is the best way – you get exactly what you want, when you need it.”
No arguing with reliability and specification. Adams and de Kraker can agree that the last page of the ‘Good Trucking’ book should pose the question as to why you’re not already sporting a moving floor in your fleet. Either way – bolted or welded, with or without a black box – a moving floor is the best way to get your ride on time.
