“The Dry Liners offer better security against immigrants at Calais because the rear doors are more secure,” explains fleet manager Robert Steele.
“We have found with other box vans that use conventional hinge pins and door locking bars on the outside, that the immigrants can unbolt the door bars and hinge pins, remove the door and enter the trailer,” he continues.
Steele says migrants then refit the door so that when the driver checks his trailer he sees the seal is still intact with the door lock in place, and drives on.
“The consequences of this can of course be serious,” he says.
Krone’s secure semi-trailers feature door locking bars inside the door. so that the hinge pins are not accessible from the outside, while the hinged stainless steel door locking bar covers the door handles.
Krone’s Dry Liner, launched in the UK last month (September 2015), also enables Kersey Freight to gain freight capacity.
“These box vans have a low profile roof – no roof bars – which gives us increased load capacity,” confirms Steele.
“Sometimes it means we can get an extra layer of goods in the trailer when loading to the roof,” he says, adding that the roof is much more robust and leak-proof than some other box vans.
“Also important for us is the Code XL certification” comments Steele. “The Dry Liner is built for strength and high load retention and the EN code certainly bears this out.”
He also likes the container-type front bulkhead wall, which is certified to retain 50% of the load, while the sidewalls will retain 40%.
“The rear doors, also container-type flush steel, will hold 30% of the load,” he says.
“With this sort of strength and loading capability, we have a premium trailer fit for purpose and, given its European credentials, we also expect to benefit from high residual values when the Dry Liners eventually leave our service.”
Kersey Freight runs a fleet of 67 semi-trailers, including curtainsiders and container carriers, with a mix of 20 Scania and DAF tractors.