Thanks to opportunities granted by the Performance Based Standards (PBS) scheme, the waste management company Ellwaste has collaborated with Freighter to design and build a truck and dog combination capable of carrying three hooklift bins.
Stephen Elliott, the Operations Manager at Ellwaste, says that “the unit effectively increases productivity by 33 per cent. From two bins to three, we can increase the weight since the rigid and skel combination is classed as a single trailer.”
Ellwaste, who are based in Northern Victoria, can now perform tasks that used to take three days in just two, giving them an extra day to pick up new jobs every single week.
“For the past 10 years, we have talked about the concept of a larger skel trailer that could hold multiple hooklift container bins,” says Elliott.
“We wanted it built in such a way that the vehicle would perform like a B-Double combination, but handle like a single trailer, which wasn’t possible with a one-size-fits-all solution,” He added.
Elliott recalls pitching the idea to Brett Smith from MaxiTRANS Victoria around three years ago, which led to talks with Freighter engineers who worked out how the concept of PBS could be applied to the trailer.
Freighter ended up taking care of the entire PBS application. This process involves attaining certain performance benchmarks, such as being able to stay within the allowable threshold with regards to trailer tail-swing or tyre friction.
The design they ended up with was a 15-metre six-axle dog skel carrying two 6.1-metre hooklift bins, all attached to a Mack truck fitted with yet another hooklift bin.
Elliott says that “The PBS approval process took some time to pass through VicRoads and the Truck Industry Council,” but that Freighter successfully obtained an approval in the end.
Since the PBS scheme started being administered by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator in January of this year, Elliott believes that the process will be much faster should they choose to do it again.
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