Trailers

Utility Trailer Manufacturing Company produced its 50,000th dry van trailer at its Glade Spring, Va., manufacturing plant for K-VA-T Food Stores Inc., the parent company of supermarket retailer Food City.

It takes special people to be flatbedders. Tarping, however, is usually not on their list of favorite activities. A single tarpaulin can weigh 65 to 100 pounds or more. It must be half thrown and half dragged over the load, spread evenly with corners properly folded and tucked in, and the whole piece of slippery fabric secured with straps and bungies.

Amsoil introduces its Synthetic Fifth-Wheel Grease, which is engineered to provide protection for, and improve performance of, fifth-wheel hitches operating in trucking and trailer applications.

Maybe you saw it in March at the Louisville truck show – that transparent trailer in Ancra International’s booth. I spotted it earlier in the month, at the TMC’s annual meeting and expo in Nashville. Story-wise, the why of it is obvious: It’s a rolling stage on which Ancra displays a number of its freight handling and tie-down products.

Heavy-haul equipment has always fascinated me, ever since I was a little boy watching “steam shovels” dig basements in our then-expanding neighborhood in post-World War II Milwaukee. The shovels (which were actually gasoline- and maybe diesel-powered) were carried to job sites on low-slung pull trailers. The trailers were pulled by dump trucks which, after parking the trailers on the street, also carried away some of the dirt from the new holes.

Schneider National Bulk Carriers recently launched a bulk intermodal transportation service using a new 40-foot tank container that can be used on the rail and over the road to haul liquid bulk chemicals across the United States.

Bustin has introduced a sturdy, compact platform and step system that can be mounted on existing equipment. The 28-inch-deep Slide & Go Space Saver Platform fits most truck bodies, including flatbed trailers and vocational trucks.

Here’s a new twist on aerodynamics: curved blades inside a rectangular structure that smooth air flow as it leaves a trailer’s surfaces. Called the VorBlade Invisible Fairing, the device is combined in rows at the trailing edges of a box trailer, reducing turbulence and the suction effect at the vehicle’s rear.

When the economy took a dive in 2008 and the construction industry's work dried up, so did much of the market for dump trailers. As construction begins coming back, there's a growing demand for new dumps. Demand also is being driven by other emerging trends in the market.

Oilmen’s has developed the third generation of its insulated tanker used for hauling DEF or Diesel Exhaust Fluid. Standard equipment includes insulated tank, insulated and heated cabinet, insulated and heated piping, and protected pumping equipment.

LOUISVILLE -- Optronics International showed off its new Uni-Lite LED clearance/marker lamps for the first time during the Mid-America Trucking Show last week.

LOUISVILLE -- SmartTruck introduced a low-profile version of its trailer Side Fairing system late last week during the Mid-America Trucking Show, allowing it to fit on more kinds of trailers.