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Rick van der Wijst of its namesake transport company from Zeeland in the province of North Brabant, situated between Den Bosch and Nijmegen, has recently deployed a new Pacton curtainsider semi-trailer. This fine triaxial, steered curtainsider with its exceptional forklift attachment enables the transport company to broaden their service package.
Rick van der Wijst (26) has started his own transport company when he was 23 years old. This enthusiastic haulier has started off on his own with refrigerated transport, but presently he has four combinations on the road and five employees. The latest expansion concerns a new Scania truck and a Pacton curtainsider semi-trailer. The curtainsider semi-trailer is added to the fleet consisting of three refrigerated trailers and opens the door to a broader service package. R. van der Wijst Transport has recently started to transport bagged animal feed for a regular customer and the new Pacton semi-trailer has been purchased for this purpose.
The Pacton semi-trailer of the type TBD.342.T-EP1 has a coupling weight of 15,000 kg, a total axle weight of 27,000 kg and a gross vehicle weight of 42,000 kg. The SAF air suspension consists of three maintenance free axles with disc brakes. The rear axle has been mounted on a pivot plate and is steered by means of a rod from the coupling. The front axle is liftable.
Rick van der Wijst says that occasionally they carry complete loads with the curtainsider trailers, but on their normal route they stop at between eight and 18 farmsteads. That requires a lot of both the driver and the combination. For a tight farmyard, the semi-trailer has to be manoeuvrable and therefore a steered axle as well as the rear camera was a must for their curtainsider trailer. Besides that, the truck-mounted forklift is indispensable. Van der Wijst adds that they have rented a semi-trailer with a truck-mounted forklift from Dutch Trailer Centre in Ommen, because their transport work had already begun while their semi-trailer was still in production at Pacton.
Van der Wijst relates that the necessity for a pneumatically operated forklift attachment arrested their attention instantly. According to him the beams of the rental semi-trailer had to be pulled out manually and with a route of more than 15 stops it placed a heavy burden on the driver. They have obviously chosen for the pneumatical option on their new semi-trailer, but even one still has to get up and down the forklift to turn the handle on the semi-trailer. It seemed much easier if that could be remote controlled from the forklift. Apparently, that has not been done before, but in consultation with Pacton it has been realized. Van der Wijst comments that it works like a charm and that it’s quick to use.
This durable Pacton curtainsider trailer has a 28 mm thick hardwood floor with steel omega profiles. It has seven stake pockets in the hart line and three freely placeable sliding side posts on both sides, as well as four rows of pinewood side planks which can be placed at 40 mm, 700 mm, 1,165 mm, 1,630 mm and 2,100 mm from the floor. Furthermore, the side planks can be placed on floor hight, if it is stacked three layers high. 19 lashing rings have been placed on both sides in the side raves with a capacity of 2,5 tonnes (TÜV certified). On the left and the right hand side a stainless steel box has been placed in the wheel base with fittings for planks above them. The steering has been fitted with central lubrication. The sliding sheets are made of 2 x 2 double seemed PVC tarpaulin, 860 g/m². A vertical tightening strap with a stainless steel buckle and zinc coated hook. The tarpaulins run on nylon rollers through the aluminium roof bars and can be tightened horizontally at the rear end by means of a ratchet tensioner mechanism. A quick release clasp has been fitted in the front. The sliding roof of the semi-trailer can be opened both to the front (with the rear beam sliding along) and to the back and is closed off with a white roof canvas. A semi-automatic locking system has been fitted at the back. Van der Wijst says that the sliding sheets are used on a daily basis, but the sliding roof not yet. The latter has been fitted however, with the future in mind.
The new Pacton curtainsider trailer is being pulled by a Scania truck, 2017. This was Van der Wijst’s first truck and the truck that he has launched his business with. The text: “No risk, no fun” graces the outside of the truck.
In purchasing a new semi-trailer this text was not applicable. Rick van der Wijst explains that he was not familiar with curtainsider trailers and that he gathered information from three different Dutch manufacturers as well as from colleagues in the transport business. The positive comments on the quality and durability of Pacton products stood out and he paid the factory a visit. In collaboration, this led to the completion of a beautiful and well equipped curtainsider trailer.