PowerTorque spoke to Goran Koviloski, Fleet Manager at PrixCar to find out some of the issues and the cutting edge smart trailer solutions the company has come up with to get the job of hauling cars around Australia done efficiently and safely.
“We design our trailers ourselves, and we get them built locally,” says Goran. “In the last five years we have spent $70 million on trucks and trailers. In that time, we purchased 225 trailers. This renewal has worked for us and every year we have new customers coming on board.
“The trailer control system has been designed so that it is a two-handed operation, so you can never take your hands of the controller. It’s a safer way to work and you don’t get fingers chopped off.
“The new technology is great from a weight perspective. Our new trailers are quite a lot lighter than they were before. They are a lot lower to the ground at the back, which means we can load very low sports cars, but at the same time it is able to carry big heavy commercial vehicles.”
The latest design has seen the smarter use of different steels, to retain strength while lowering weight, plus cutting away steel which is not necessary to retain structural integrity.
When it comes to loading the cars onto the truck, it is the driver’s own experience which determines which vehicle goes where. The imperative here is to maximise the load, while minimising any potential for damage to the vehicles.
“The driver, loader and planner are fully responsible for putting a load together,” says Goran. “It’s always a mix and match process. If you talk to our drivers they will all tell you how and where a particular model will fit on a trailer. That’s the experience talking.
“Prior to releasing a new model, we have agreements with the car makers, that they will allow us to have an early vehicle to be load trialled. We can then see where a particular vehicle sits on the deck of a trailer.”
The art of loading will see the standard car carrier, a seven car semi trailer with another car on the cab frame, able to fit eight cars, but not eight 4x4s. The maximum possible would probably amount to five 4x4s and three normal cars.
Goran tells us the cutting edge smart trailer solutions help overcome the space issues, which get more complicated when vehicles like a Dodge Ram or a Silverado are added to the mix.
