Schmitz Cargobull develops new semi-trailer for UK and Ireland
The British and Irish hauliers will be soon able to move dry freight and parcels in a new type of semi-trailers. It is the S.KO PACE SMART that was designed and built by Schmitz Cargobull, the German major manufacturer of semi-trailers, at its plant in Manchester. The vehicle is the first company’s product manufactured at the UK’s facility.
Schmitz Cargobull built the S.KO PACE SMART modular semi-trailer by using its well-known and proven fully-galvanised MODULOS chassis and innovative honeycomb STRUKTOPLAST panels. The lightweight panels allowed the manufacturer to reduce trailer weighs by around 600 kilogrammes in comparison to competitor models whilst remaining the same payload potential. This feature will result in lower fuel consumption for the road freight operators and the subsequent reduction of their carbon footprint.
The new type of semi-trailer was developed at Schmitz Cargobull’s plant in Manchester especially for operations in the UK and Ireland. With the new vehicle, the German manufacturer intends to reinforce its position in the British Isles. “Opening the UK factory this year has been a fantastic opportunity and as a team, we are extremely proud of the quality of the manufacturing process we have created. It is incredibly rewarding that we have had so many orders placed already,” said Paul Avery, managing director of operations at Schmitz Cargobull.
Options and benefits
Besides reducing greenhouse emissions, the S.KO PACE SMART semi-trailer delivers other options and benefits. The vehicle has load securing rails, translucent roof, tail lift and two choices of doors – rear shutter, or aluminium barn doors. All of these attributes simplify loading and unloading operations. Each vehicle can transport up to 33 EUR-pallets or 26 ISO pallets.
The new semi-trailer could be manufactured in several modifications in three body heights (2.6, 2.8 and 3.2 metres). It has a standard floor strength of 5.5 tonnes with options to increase to 7.1 to or 8.0 tonnes when moving heavier loads. Moreover, Schmitz Cargobull equipped the modular semi-trailer with its telematics system TrailerConnect, which provides intelligent connectivity and support fast diagnostics of all components with the telematics control unit.