Double the efficiency
Economy and ecology in harmony for roadbased
Philipp Reich, owner of Reich transport company from Vimfow in the German state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, took ownership of two new vehicles equipped with a POWER CURTAIN. The specially equipped curtainsiders can be used to form the EcoDuo combination – made up of two standard trailers connected by a dolly and pulled by a tractor unit. Philip Reich will be using the combination in Finland. His company works with its Finnish logistics partner Logistics Oy to deliver transport jobs.
“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. 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,” explains the owner Philip Reich, “And our customers are impressed by this concept, too.”
Each of these vehicles is 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.
“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. It also makes sense when it comes to ecological criteria,” adds Philip Reich, “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.”
For transport jobs in Finland, drivers of this vehicle combination receive special comprehensive training, similar to courses for driving long HGVs.