Neighbours Pacton Trailers and RWC Logistic Services recently joined forces and now share more than a just a hometown. One day, RWC founder Rued Wiersma simply dropped by Pacton for a chat about the engineering and delivery of a new curtainsider semi-trailer for his multidisciplinary haulage company. After a tour of the trailer builder’s facility, he sat down and got straight to business. "I didn't shop around," Wiersma says. “I was born and bred in Ommen, so Pacton was always the obvious choice. There are always cheaper options out there, but they can’t compare with Pacton’s quality and service levels."

Wiersma is a good-natured but serious entrepreneur who knows how to get things done. After obtaining his HGV license in 2021, he started his own haulage business during the COVID pandemic. On a hands-free call, he explains that he is currently driving the trailer and that the new license has already proven useful in the first four weeks alone. RWC Logistic Services specialises in long loads, business-to-consumer deliveries, general cargo, FTL transport, machine transport, rush deliveries and more. The company is staffed by 3 permanent employees and one substitute employee and has its own warehouse in Ommen, where it has proudly amassed a young fleet consisting of two tractor units, a box truck and two large delivery vans.

Wiersma purchased the new Pacton curtainsider semi-trailer to expand his business, and he intends to order a new one when the lease on his other semi-trailer expires. Wiersma explains: “In my early days, I did a lot of contract work, but I started taking on shipments myself more than a year ago. When you take that kind of responsibility, you need good equipment. And all of the people in the area I polled told me that Pacton was the place to be for high-quality trailers, so I didn’t second-guess myself for even a minute.”

Fully equipped

RWC (www.rwc.nu) now has its very own high-quality trailer, a tri-axle Pacton steered curtainsider trailer (TBD.342.T-BELP1). With a tongue weight of 15,000 kg and a gross axle weight of 27,000 kg, the trailer has a rated gross vehicle weight of 42,000 kg.

The rear of the chassis has been modified to accommodate the underfold tailgate. The coupling section features a detachable 2" kingpin in a 12 mm thick coupling plate, mounted together with the alignment wedge on a turntable. The Jost mechanical trailer supports each have a capacity of 12 tonnes, are equipped with slide/tilt feet and support 2 speeds.

The SAF Intradisc air suspension has 3 rigid axles, each with a technical load rating per axle of 9 tonnes and Integral disc brakes. The rear axle is mounted on a turntable and is steered by a rod connected to the coupling.The front axle is equipped with a fully automatic axle lift via the EBS, with a rocker switch on the chassis for forced lowering. Axle loads can be monitored in the truck cab, provided the tractor unit supports this functionality.

The trailer has 6 steel 22.5 x 11.75 rims with 385/65 R 22.5 tires. The bed features a 28 mm all-hardwood shiplap floor with 3 sliding stanchions on both sides and 4 rows of shelf supports and side board stops, in fixed stanchion holders in the edge profile. There are 4 60 cm high aluminium side boards on either side, and the trailer also comes with 4 rows of wooden canopy boards that can be placed at 860 mm, 1,240 mm, 1,620 mm and 2,000 mm from the floor. There are plastic tool boxes on the left and right side of the wheelbase.

LED and sliding cover

The trailer was designed with all-around LED lighting, including rear lights, side lights under the edge profile, a fog light, stalk lights, wide-beam lights, top lights and reversing/working lights. The trailer is equipped with a steel Pacton strongline XL rear portal with 2 flat aluminium overlay rear doors, with double hinges and 2 integrated locking bars per door. The Dhollandia heavy-duty underfold tailgate (DH-SM.30) has a lifting capacity of 2 tonnes.

The sliding cover of the new semi-trailer can slide open to the front (along with a folding rear bar) and to the rear, and is closed with a white roof tarp. The sliding curtains are made of 2 x 2 double-threaded 890 g/m2 PVC and slide along the aluminium roof rails using nylon rollers. They can be tensioned horizontally at the rear by means of a ratchet tensioning mechanism and at the front by a quick-release fastener. Pacton delivered the new trailer with bespoke tarps in RWC branding

and the entire chassis was grit blasted and galvanised after welding. The dark blue finish was created by spray painting the trailer with a 2K primer and a 2K chassis paint. Pacton delivered the trailer with Ladungssicherung certificate type XL for 27,000 kg, equipping it with the required reinforced body (headboard, rear portal, rear doors, stanchions), additional horizontal straps in the sliding tarpaulins and a reinforced roof tarp.

On the move

With a smile, Wiersma explains how the C ended up in company name RWC:"When I registered my new business with the Chamber of Commerce, I wasn't entirely sure what direction I wanted to take. So when the clerk suggested that I’d call it a consultancy - because consultancy is somewhat of a catch-all term - I went along with it. I sometimes joke that RWC is short for RuerdWaterhouseCoopers."

Wiersma is elated with the look of his new Pacton trailer. “Pacton did a great job on the bespoke tarp, making the trailer just about the best calling card you could wish for.” The young haulage company intends to use the trailer for wide-ranging applications. “We do FTL shipments, big bags of plastic and even machines that can easily be loaded through the sliding roof. We currently operate mainly in the northeastern Netherlands and northwestern Germany, but we’re literally a company on the move, so I’m open to any challenge and development.”