Every day our drivers transport huge amounts of cargo. Depending on the type of cargo, each driver selects the appropriate means of transport, techniques securing the goods and adapted to its weight and special needs of a given load. What types of semi-trailers are used in the transport industry and what should be known about each of them?
Types of loading – what should be known about them?
Transport loads differ from each other in specification, weight, dimensions, as well as requirements regarding the method of loading or unloading. What types of loading do drivers use?
Each of them is characterized, among others, by special needs that must be met, but also weight, required transport documents and security techniques that a given driver must apply to best secure a given load for transport.
Loading can be divided by type as follows:
- loading from the top – loading is carried out from the top mainly when the semi-trailer has a movable roof. Such a type of unloading works perfectly e.g. in the case of loose goods.
- side loading – is usually carried out from the side of the vehicle in curtain or tarpaulin semi-trailers.
- rear loading – is one of the most frequently used methods of unloading goods in the transport industry. Facilitation are semi-trailers with moving floors, which speed up this process and allow loading and unloading goods faster.
Check what are the types of loads in transport.
What types of semi-trailers are used in the transport industry?
The diversity of semi-trailers used in the transport industry can make it difficult to distinguish them. Standard and special semi-trailers are distinguished. The first type of semi-trailers are mainly curtain semi-trailers, which are intended for transporting various goods on pallets.
So what types of semi-trailers are most often used in the transport industry, what characterizes each of them and what loads are transported by them?
- Tarpaulin – is a type of quite universal semi-trailer, which is used mainly to transport a large amount of goods. Tarpaulin is used for both domestic and international cargo transport. The duty of every driver before carrying out a given transport order is to carefully verify the condition of the tarpaulin, tires and other parts of the vehicle, which affects the safety of the transported load.
Goods are usually fastened with special straps, which requires knowledge of logistics techniques and at the same time maintaining special caution. The advantage of using tarpaulins is that goods can be loaded from any side, which is very convenient and saves a lot of time. Moreover, a driver who chooses a tarpaulin has no restrictions regarding the method of loading goods. Transport of goods by tarpaulin is lighter, cheaper and allows maintaining fuel efficiency due to the fact that such transport burns less fuel.
- Curtain sider – is a type of semi-trailer that is very popular in the transport industry and for this reason can be very often found on domestic and international roads. It is distinguished by the fact that on the sides of the semi-trailer for the time of driving a so-called curtain is placed, also referred to as a curtain, which performs an advertising and goods securing function.
The curtain is unveiled for the time of loading or unloading, which is where the name for this type of semi-trailer comes from. Such a curtain semi-trailer is distinguished by a quite standard construction – it consists of steel, special ropes that help secure the load for the time of transport. With its help, any load can be transported on domestic or international roads. A facilitation is that depending on the type of a given curtain sider, such a semi-trailer also has a sliding roof, which allows the driver to load from the top.
- Mega – a mega type semi-trailer serves mainly to transport oversized goods and those that due to unusual size or heavy weight are very difficult to transport using standard means of transport. A mega semi-trailer is often also referred to as a jumbo semi-trailer due to cargo transport capabilities and similar to a curtain sider – is equipped with movable curtains facilitating loading and unloading.
- Box – is one of the most popular types of semi-trailers used mainly to transport loads on domestic roads. A box semi-trailer involves so-called box bodies, which are characterized by quite rigid construction and are thus adapted to transport demanding and heavy items.
- Coil mullet – is a type of specialized semi-trailer e.g. coilmulde, which serves mainly to transport heavy construction materials e.g. rolled steel and allows safely transporting this type of items directly e.g. to a construction site. Usually this type of semi-trailer has a trough in which bars are placed to be able to safely transport them to a given place. A huge advantage of using this type of semi-trailers is the guarantee of well-secured goods for the time of transport, which minimizes the risk of an accident.
- Reefer – reefer type semi-trailers facilitate transport of goods that require maintaining appropriate temperatures so as not to lose their properties. It is for this purpose that transport by reefers is used, which are also designed in such a way as to facilitate the driver loading and unloading goods.
- Container semi-trailers – are semi-trailers that in the transport industry serve mainly to transport dangerous loads e.g. chemical, products defined as dangerous e.g. ADR materials.
- Box semi-trailer – in terms of construction is very similar to a curtain semi-trailer. In transport it is used to transport various types of products: from goods suitable for consumption on pallets, as well as those that require special conditions e.g. thorough protection against moisture. Usually in the transport industry box semi-trailers are used to transport valuable goods, whose transport requires special caution and proper securing. The width of a standard box semi-trailer is approx. 2.47 meters and one semi-trailer can hold approx. 34 euro pallets. Various types of box semi-trailers are distinguished, which can have e.g. a ramp facilitating loading, special lifting axles, double floor, and even a special anti-burglary system.
- Tanker – tankers in the transport industry are used mainly to transport large amounts of liquid and toxic loads e.g. gases, chemical and dangerous substances, which due to their character must be properly secured for the time of transport.
- Isotherm – isotherm is nothing more than car semi-trailers that facilitate transport of loads requiring storage in appropriate temperatures (most often it is from 0°C to +16°C).
- Tipper – Tipper semi-trailers in colloquial language are referred to as bathtubs. They serve mainly to transport heavy construction materials, so they work perfectly on construction sites,
- Walking floor semi-trailer – this type of semi-trailers facilitate transport, loading and unloading of loose goods. This type of semi-trailer allows realizing fast unloading without the necessity of using the tipper option. Most often semi-trailers with a moving floor are equipped with a special four-phase system, which shortens the time of unloading goods. Depending on the construction method of a given semi-trailer, the floor in each of them thanks to special hydraulic cylinders can move by approx. 200 mm backwards, which for the driver is a very convenient solution.
- Self-unloading semi-trailer – this type of semi-trailers is characterized primarily by very high flexibility of solutions due to the construction of the semi-trailer. It enables two- or three-sided unloading, which speeds up unloading time and helps drivers in quickly realizing many logistics operations.
- Two-axle trailer – is a solution that serves mainly to transport e.g. general cargo in large quantities and facilitates transport of larger items e.g. furniture during a move.
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