Kraker-moving floor trailer with hydraulic roof offers several advantages
In Germany the demand for this type of trailer is now increasing as well
Grübner chooses the safety of an hydraulic roofSafety is an important topic, especially in the transport world where many sole operators/owner operaters are active. A hydraulic roof helps increase safety of operation, plus additional benefits too.
Andreas Grübner, transport entrepreneur from the German city of Ravensburg, has been driving a moving floor trailer for years. He mainly drives national routes with several loading and unloading locations per day, this means that the transport equipment of Grübner is intensively used, with corporate security and safety playing a major part. When purchasing of a new trailer the choice was made for a moving floor trailer with hydraulic roof, so it had to be one of Kraker Trailers.
Andreas Grübner explains his choice. “Safety is important at all times. But especially when you have a sole proprietorship like I do, if I have an accident, my combination will not be working and I can’t have that, because the costs will keep building.” A good entrepreneur thinks ahead, which is why Grübner explored moving floor trailers. The German entrepreneur wanted a hydraulic roof above all. “I heard about a Kraker moving floor trailer with hydraulic roof and I had asked Christoph Breitfeld (responsible for sales in Bavaria) to give me more information about this. Important in this was whether the use of an hydraulic roof, would decrease the number of actions, such as climbing onto the platform. If there is less climbing, the safety increases.”
Up until now, trailers with hydraulic roofs were mainly used in the BeNeLux, Austria and Scandinavia, but in Germany the demand for this type of trailer is now increasing as well.
A moving floor trailer with hydraulic roof has many advantages:
- it is no longer necessary to climb onto the platform: with the press of a button, the roof automatically opens and closes, significantly decreasing the risk of accidents at the work place.
- fully automatic opening, without intervention of the driver, saves a lot of time
- since the roof is flat against the side of the trailer, it protects the vehicle from damage during loading
- since there is no rolled canvas in the way, the trailer can be loaded from two sides.
- by opening the roof vertically a situation can be prevented in which cargo falls next to the trailer.
The use of trailers fitted with hydraulic roof is expected to increase in the future, for example: In Austria there are shippers that prohibit the manual opening and closing of the roof, out of safety considerations.
The roof is powered by the (standard) hydraulic installation of the pulling vehicle. After closing the roof is pneumatically locked. Due to this construction, the swiveling beam can be used, which is a major plus, in particular when unloading voluminous materials.
Andres Grübner is very pleased with his moving floor trailer with hydraulic roof: he doesn’t have to ‘balance’ on the platform any longer and has created a safer working enviroment. He wants to keep working with his Kraker trailer for a couple more years yet, so to enjoy his well-deserved retirement afterwards.