Demountable trailers

Do trailers work as part of a demountable solution?

In many respects trailers and demountables make an ideal combination, but as with most things there are exceptions to the rule, therefore drawbar trailers must be considered differently to semi-trailers.

Drawbar trailer demountable systems.

Carrying two demountable bodies on a drawbar combination is now an everyday sight on our roads and accepted as being an ideal cost effective method of distribution, however this principle has now moved on and three body combinations are commonly used to distribute short bodies which are used in urban areas for home delivery.

The growth in home delivery and areas with restricted access means that deliveries by some vehicle types can be problematic, hence two and three body drawbar combinations that can be broken down into smaller units has enormous appeal to many operators.

In many respects a drawbar trailer is much like a rigid truck without a cab or engine, as it will have roughly the same overall dimensions and carrying capacity enabling it to easily be constructed in a manner that provides the required compatibility.

Semi-trailer demountable systems.

Semi-trailers and demountables are not always natural bedfellows.  If the requirement is to operate urban articulated combinations with low height tractor units and trailers, possibly interchanging with rigids and drawbar trailers, this could present an attractive solution in some applications where compatibility can be achieved with relative ease. 

However should the application demand long higher weight multi axle trailers the solutions become far more complex and albeit they have sucessfully been operated in the past, with one or two notable exceptions their operational life has been short.  The biggest problem to overcome when considering a semi-trailer operation is the disparity in height between the trailer and the distribution vehicles which is usually significant.  Other issues that need to be considered include the large area of flat yard space required, the reduced body length when compared with a drawbar combination and critically, the complexity of the equipment.  

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