Transport Heirwegh bvba from Zele, Belgium, specialises in container transport. Since 2016, the company has increasingly relied on Pacton in putting together its fleet. Heirwegh recently opted to expand its fleet with six three-axle Flex-XL skeletal trailers, and has now sourced 27 of its 83 from the Dutch trailer manufacturer from Ommen. Owner Tom Claes: “They’re robust, user friendly trailers that have multiple benefits for us. We’ve bought all our skeletal trailers from Pacton since 2019 and our drivers couldn’t be more pleased.”

Owner Tom Claeys manages a team of about 40 drivers and about seven office employees. Heirwegh provides daily transportation services, both domestic and international, for all types of containers, and can also offer conventional and temperature-sensitive transport options. Thanks to modern Track & Trace systems, all shipments can be tracked at any time, with the added benefit of optimal scheduling. With 5,400 m² of storage capacity, spread over two warehouses in Zele, Heirwegh can also offer customers more flexibility by storing and transshipping cargo.

Flex-XL

Transport Heirwegh deliberately chose a Dutch trailer manufacturer. The Flex-XL is one of the successful trailers in Pacton's Container X-press range. The thoughtful design and the use of high-quality steels give the trailer maximum stability at a low dead weight. The Flex-XL is suitable for transporting all sizes of containers, with all versions offering optimum axle load distribution. The Flex-XL has an extensive option package, giving every customer access to a bespoke chassis. The six skeletal trailers bought by Transport Heirwegh have a length of 9.31 metres retracted and 13.91 metres extended, with a rated gross vehicle weight of 39 tonnes. The slide-out trailers are multifunctional, thanks to their low-maintenance mechanical structure. Behind the gooseneck, the trailer consists of a three-part telescopic central main tube, to which the various twistlock arms have been welded. This creates a chassis that can handle a wide variety of container sizes and combinations; single 20-foot short, single 20-foot medium, double 20-foot, single 30-foot, as well as single 40-foot with or without a tunnel.

The reinforced BPW air suspension of the skeletal trailers purchased by Heirwegh bvba includes three axles with disc brakes, with a load rating of 9 tonnes per axle. The front and final axle are also equipped with an automatic axle lift. The trailers have LED lighting all around, including rear lights, side lights and wide-beam lights, as well as closed aluminium side guards, a full steel bumper at the rear, a vehicle-wide splash guard and a document holder, among other features. The chassis was completely galvanised before the paint job.

Multiple benefits

"We always buy skeletal trailers in groups of 3 and, in consultation with Pacton, have them delivered to Neyt Trucks in Lokeren, near here, where the trucks are inspected and prepped. After detailing, we can hit the road immediately," says Tom Claeys.

For Claeys’s transport company, Pacton's Flex-XL chassis have multiple benefits. “Pacton is a big, well-known name in trailers and they’re renowned for building particularly robust trailer bodies. The Flex-XL bodies can handle any containers you throw at them, and the colour-coded system means that they’re incredibly easy to slide out. The same goes for the automatic axle lift, truly a godsend for our drivers. What’s more, Pacton trailers slide in fully, as opposed to the rear slide-out trailers of the past. Finally, the trailers all have a good tongue weight. At 40 feet, for example, they have a plus-28 position that effectively moves the 3 axles forward, lowering the tongue pressure. This means the chassis are multi-purpose, making them truly perfect for a larger fleet."