Material―plastic, weightsaving―drastic

摘要

An innovative moving-floor bulk trailer made in Belgium almost entirely of plastics is now available in the UK. Tanker Solutions, a Peterborough, Cambridgeshire-based tanker repair and maintenance company, has become UK agent for the Composittrailer, built by the eponymous subsidiary of Stevens, the Belgian bodybuilder. The lightweight trailer first went on display two years ago at Belgium's Kortrijk show, where it promptly won an award for ground-breaking design and use of materials. But sales figures since then have been nothing to write home about with only 13 sold so far. Tanker Solutions joint managing director Richard Titchener acknowledges that operators baulk at the 10-15 per cent price premium on this trailer compared with a typical moving-floor bulker. But he encourages them to see past the price and focus instead on operational benefits and long-term economics. His own enthusiasm for plastic composites is unwavering. "I have long thought that composites are the future," says Mr Titchener. "But you have to be a believer."