Haulage company Braås Åkeri now has a new giant in its fleet. Working for Benders, the juggernaut carries a full 55 tonnes of sand per load. At the same time, its emissions are 25 percent less for each carried tonne!
Benders constantly strives to find more efficient ways of transporting materials and products. Currently, one of the more spectacular initiatives is a truly heavyweight lorry specially designed for carrying gravel and sand from the quarry outside Hjo to the factory in Edsvära. This new rig is a collaborative project involving Benders, Braås Åkeri, the Swedish Transport Administration and Volvo. It has already attracted great attention.
“Doing this as a joint project is great fun. Our ambition is to introduce similar vehicles for other Benders’ facilities and, if the regulations for heavy goods transport change in the future, even use vehicles with larger capacities for customer deliveries,” reveals Christer Hofling, operations developer at Benders.
A tiny bit bigger
It all started when, in February 2013, Håkan Andersson, MD of Braås Åkeri, attended the inauguration of Bennesveds Åkeri’s 74-tonne timber transport rig. This inspired him to take part in the ongoing trials for higher vehicle weights. Transport between Mofalla and Edsvära was at the forefront of his mind. However, he wanted to go a step further and try 80 instead of 74 tonnes.
“With a gross weight of 80 tonnes, we increase load capacity by around 18 tonnes and, at the same time, reduce emissions per tonne by 25 percent,” states Håkan.
Green light for 80 tonnes
Checking out the 80-kilometre long route showed that no bridges were so long that they would have to independently take the rig’s entire weight. Consequently, the Swedish Transport Administration gave the go-ahead for trials with a gross weight of 80-tonnes.
In the summer, Gehab in Alvesta started building the vehicle on one of Volvo’s first FH16 chassis with a Euro 6 engine. Around the same time, Parator started construction of the six-axle trailer. In October, pending the government’s decision on the maximum permissible weight of vehicles on Sweden’s roads, the giant was granted dispensation to begin road trials.
“The total number of vehicle kilometres has now gone down by 30 percent and we calculate that, at the same time, fuel consumption per transported tonne has fallen by almost 25 percent,” comments Lennart Cider of Volvo Trucks.
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| The environment-friendly 80-tonner |
