INCREDIBLY COMPACT PACTON SEMI-TRAILER WITH FORKLIFT ATTACHMENT

16 November 2017

HONSELERSDIJK – Jan de Greef Transport from Honselersdijk has recently put an exceptionally compact Pacton semi-trailer with a forklift attachment into service. 

The 7,6 m long semi-trailer has one 10 tonnes axle and a permissible weight of 22 tonnes.   Gypsum is mainly transported by them for a wholesale plasterer and it holds in that they often have to enter town centres of big cities such as Breda, The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.  It is essential to use compact combinations  to avoid getting irrevocably stuck. 

Jan de Greef (55) started his own transport company in 2000.  His son, Dave (21) has been driving as partner in the general partnership of late.  Dave will be driving the new Pacton semi-trailer.  For this purpose  a new, compact tractor has also been purchased.  The Mercedes Benz Actros will be delivered by the end of December.  Jan de Greef explains that it was their wish to have the most compact steering combination as possible for the metropolitan work and that it should include a forklift at the back.  He remarks that Pacton has kept the semi-trailer as they could.   He continues to explain that they drive from Harderwijk to Breda and from Den Helder to The Hague and Rotterdam.  They are extremely busy and therefore they don’t have time for calamities.  Besides being compact, their material also needs to be flexible, robust and trustworthy.  De Greef himself drives in a small tandem-axle with a crane and a Renault tractor.  

Optimal conservation 

The Pacton open trailer body for De Greef is fitted with an SAF air suspension and one axle, mounted on a slewing ring and steered by means of a rod from the coupling. The body has a fixed steel bulkhead and  2x4 foldable aluminium sideboards of approximately one metre in height and supplied with Kinnegrip stanchions.  The rear end is equipped with one foldable aluminium board and Kinnegrip.  The trailer is optimally protected against influence of weather.  The entire chassis has been blasted with grit to meet the Swedish standard SIS 055900-SA 2.5 regarding the blasting pattern surface quality .  This was followed by metal spray and finished off with a two-component primer and bodywork paint.  The semi-trailer is completed with the company colours of Jan de Greef Transport,  namely a charming kingfisher blue and a yellow stripe. 

The semi-trailer that Jan de Greef is using himself is around 15 years old and has been bought from a Belgium semi-trailer manufacturer.  De Greef experiences it as being prone to corrosion and that swayed him to go looking  for a Dutch manufacturer for their new semi-trailer.  Their decision for Pacton was mainly based on the pleasant and skilled contact with the Pacton representative who met De Greef in Honselersdijk.  De Greef states that the feeling was good and so was the product and the offer.