The threads title was about curtainsiders but as it has drifted onto containers, it reminds me of the times we got a call out to assist.
I worked for a company who did transport and also stored and repaired IFF containers before IBC & UBC became a major name.
The containers were originally 30’ with a letterbox at the front and solid doors at the rear, occasionally a general haulage man would pick up a container loaded with pallets, tip it and have to reload in Grangemouth or Wilton with PTFE granules or even Wheat.
Despite the containers having a bolt seal and some highly visible stickers to warn that the container was loaded with powder or granules. It didn’t stop them being nosey and opening the doors. It makes a bloody mess and comes out very quick
Any load should be secured, a curtainsider is basically a flat trailer with a framework over the top, the curtains are there to keep the load away from the elements & vice versa, you wouldn’t go down the road without securing a load on a flat trailer so why do it in a curtainsider? The fact that loads aren’t scattered over the road more often is down to luck not judgement. I’m just as guilty as the next man, I used to use half a mile of rope & 2 sheets on a load of gypsum, then we got curtainsiders & if I could be arsed I might throw a strap or two over the top stack, crazy when you think about it.
The problem this thread and regulations cause is that someone is trying to suggest a one size fits all solution.
A pack of RPC bottles in stretch wrap will be damaged more with straps than if it fell out on the road. A full load of Pampers or Andrex cannot be strapped without crushing the load. A full shoot 3 high pack of chipboard would require more straps & corners than most trucks can carry. We have seen the results of a shifted load almost every single day on most roads.
But we are where we are because so many drivers believed the curtains were load bearing or simply were too lazy to get in the back. stupid H&S rules have caused this to an extent because the driver is either not allowed into the warehouse to supervise or observe (not load) the trailers, or the H&S rules have prevented him from climbing onto the trailer or load to secure it properly.
Fixed roof curtainsiders with a strap pole built into the roof are ideal for some types of cargo, a well designed sliding roof Euro-Liner is almost universal, but a flat trailer with a sliding PVC curtain is exactly that. A flat trailer.
Double deckers have a problem too in that the load is not consolidated by the size, weight and shape of a cargo, but in the order that it arrives in the warehouse, the urgency of a single item and the self importance of the customer will mean it has to go on the top deck whether it weighs 3 tonne or 35kg
knight:
Coddy
Are you suggesting I should open every container I pick up and check the load?
Where am I supposed to do this, at the road side, could be more than a little dangerous.
With what am I supposed to cut the seals. Go out and by a large cutter at my expense, don’t think so
How am i expected to check the load by opening the doors. All I can see is the first row of cardboard boxes or what ever. There is another forty foot i can’t see, unless i unload it at the afforementioned roadside. Two of the containers I moved today were full to the brim with scrap metal please explain how I can take the container off the skelly stand it on its end open the doors and check the load.
Of course then I have to explain to my boss and Maersk why I didn’t deliver it with the seal intact.
You sit there and make stupid remarks and I will go out and work in the real world!
Keep yer bitchy remarks to to mates at the Blue Oyster Bar…
And check your load its your responsibility. Also in case you had not read the posts properly we are talking about CURTAINSIDERS…
DAF95XF:
How do you strap down pallets on a curtainsider?
I know how to secure cages to a curtainsider though
If the pallets are doubled up you can go through the top pallet or over the lot depending on the product. Or just 2 crossed straps across the back, it depends on the load, the pallets and the need to stop the load walking
merc0447:
What about the tyre companies that use curtainsiders, how do you strap a few hundred loose tyres
We carried many millions of loose tyres and the curtains were strengthened and had aluminium stanchions attached to the straps. When the trailers fell apart we had them replaced with Schmitz, Krone or Trailor but if they were missing any boards, you would not normally get loaded. Minimum of 4 boards per bay then the tyre company intertwined 2 or 3 more boards vertically.
Still not ideal but the tyres were supported by the wooden or aluminium planks
What we used to do with tyres on a Euroliner, was make sure all the boards were in place, then put a ratchet ■■■■■■■■ the outside of the trailer between each post, just to stop the curtains bulging more than anything…
As for strapping loads with the internal straps, what a complete waste of time IMO, working for Downton’s i have seen more than my share of shot loads( we have some top quality drivers), Lets take 26 pallets of Beer, 24 can packs of whatever, stacked on a pallet with a little bit of glue on each crate, to hold it in place. You can strap it all you like, but with 2 inches of a webbing strap, going diagnolly across the front of a pallet, if you have to anchor up a bit shaprish, then it doesnt hold it, the beer just goes round the strap, and makes an even worse job of trying to re-stack it!!
I would also like to know, who is going to deem a load safe or unsafe, as i thought that was our job, not a couple of blokes in a people carrier.
gardun:
According to our boss (and he’s had it from our pallet network HQ - I’ve seen the niotice) as of September 1st VOSA will be checking loads which must now be secured with internal straps as curtains are not considered secure. Allegedly all pallets should be strapped. – I thought load security was the driver’s responsibility.
Isn’t that more like the case that VOSA is only checking that driver is doing his work up to the responsibilities given to him or her? I’d guess you’ve had legislation regarding the load securing for ages as I think it’s coming through EU legislation, and this same legislation applies to every type of trailer superstructures. It’s only the amount of securing which varies depending of the superstructure and void spaces between the pallets or whatever you are loading. Curtains generally haven’t been load bearing, so load has had to be secured like on a flat, but recently curtains approved to EN 12642 (Code XL) standard have become widely available. With this type of curtains, trailer roof and curtains are reinforced so that curtains are guaranteed to act like a solid side wall acts as a securing device, up to a certain load weight (27 tonnes load weight is quite common from what I’ve head of). There also has to be some sort of marking on the curtains that they fulfil this standard.
In Finland even a box trailer should be secured like a flat if a void space between the load and side walls is more than 10 cm and powers that be are only checking load is secured like it should be and fining you if it’s not. Clearly that kind of load securing is not going to happen without very specific equipment, like airbags, but in theory it should happen. Also anything stacked two or more top on each other, let that be pallets, paper reels, 1 ton bags, etc. should be secured despite the superstructure.
I would also like to know, who is going to deem a load safe or unsafe, as i thought that was our job, not a couple of blokes in a people carrier.
That was the point of my original post - according to what I have heard the blokes in the battenburg Galaxy will, and straps will be a legal requirement.
i quite like securing loads. it gives me a feeling of self satisfaction, i also know that if the load does move, then i am confident that i did all i can to prevent any problems in the first place.
i had a bit of fun at sonae in knowsley not so long ago.
they had about four loads returned because the chip board had move backwards and the place was swarming with H&S bods. so i thought a bit of an overkill was required, so i strapped the load down, then the rope came out, criss crossing each pack, i was soon noticed by the high viz wearing suits. “i didn’t think drivers carried rope nowadays” said one of them. “we can’t understand why it keeps moving” said another.
so i thought i would have a bit of fun.
“we always carry rope, chipboard will always move, it’s due to the kinetic energy stored in the centre pack at the rear, this passes its stored energy to the next pack, then the next, until the energy hits the headboard, the energy has nowhere else to go apart from backwards. so that is why the centre packs move back and the top pack falls down. didn’t you know that?” said i.
well they didn’t, so they decided to take photographs. and they commented to the boss which was good as we had only just got the contract.
i could have really impressed them by saying something like “we must think outside of the box guys” or “let me run this by you”.
limeyphil:
i quite like securing loads. it gives me a feeling of self satisfaction, i also know that if the load does move, then i am confident that i did all i can to prevent any problems in the first place.
i had a bit of fun at sonae in knowsley not so long ago.
they had about four loads returned because the chip board had move backwards and the place was swarming with H&S bods. so i thought a bit of an overkill was required, so i strapped the load down, then the rope came out, criss crossing each pack, i was soon noticed by the high viz wearing suits. “i didn’t think drivers carried rope nowadays” said one of them. “we can’t understand why it keeps moving” said another.
so i thought i would have a bit of fun.
“we always carry rope, chipboard will always move, it’s due to the kinetic energy stored in the centre pack at the rear, this passes its stored energy to the next pack, then the next, until the energy hits the headboard, the energy has nowhere else to go apart from backwards. so that is why the centre packs move back and the top pack falls down. didn’t you know that?” said i.
well they didn’t, so they decided to take photographs. and they commented to the boss which was good as we had only just got the contract.
i could have really impressed them by saying something like “we must think outside of the box guys” or “let me run this by you”.
Keep yer bitchy remarks to to mates at the Blue Oyster Bar…
And check your load its your responsibility. Also in case you had not read the posts properly we are talking about CURTAINSIDERS…
knight:
Coddy
Are you suggesting I should open every container I pick up and check the load?
Where am I supposed to do this, at the road side, could be more than a little dangerous.
With what am I supposed to cut the seals. Go out and by a large cutter at my expense, don’t think so
How am i expected to check the load by opening the doors. All I can see is the first row of cardboard boxes or what ever. There is another forty foot i can’t see, unless i unload it at the afforementioned roadside. Two of the containers I moved today were full to the brim with scrap metal please explain how I can take the container off the skelly stand it on its end open the doors and check the load.
Of course then I have to explain to my boss and Maersk why I didn’t deliver it with the seal intact.
You sit there and make stupid remarks and I will go out and work in the real world!
Keep yer bitchy remarks to to mates at the Blue Oyster Bar…
And check your load its your responsibility. Also in case you had not read the posts properly we are talking about CURTAINSIDERS…
No idea what the “Blue Oyster bar” is but i know you started the bitchy remarks,. Yes i did read the post properly and was just making a comment which some people replied to saying what i believed to be true but wasn’t sure of.
merc0447:
What about the tyre companies that use curtainsiders, how do you strap a few hundred loose tyres
Tyres really should be in stillages or a box trailer, anything else is a risk…
Every time i did tyres it was flat on the deck and then make lovely interlocking towers out of them. I can just see you getting far by asking for stillages. Remember they want volume nott something lovely and nice in a little cage with wheels.
Keep yer bitchy remarks to to mates at the Blue Oyster Bar…
And check your load its your responsibility. Also in case you had not read the posts properly we are talking about CURTAINSIDERS…
knight:
Coddy
Are you suggesting I should open every container I pick up and check the load?
Where am I supposed to do this, at the road side, could be more than a little dangerous.
With what am I supposed to cut the seals. Go out and by a large cutter at my expense, don’t think so
How am i expected to check the load by opening the doors. All I can see is the first row of cardboard boxes or what ever. There is another forty foot i can’t see, unless i unload it at the afforementioned roadside. Two of the containers I moved today were full to the brim with scrap metal please explain how I can take the container off the skelly stand it on its end open the doors and check the load.
Of course then I have to explain to my boss and Maersk why I didn’t deliver it with the seal intact.
You sit there and make stupid remarks and I will go out and work in the real world!
Keep yer bitchy remarks to to mates at the Blue Oyster Bar…
And check your load its your responsibility. Also in case you had not read the posts properly we are talking about CURTAINSIDERS…
No idea what the “Blue Oyster bar” is but i know you started the bitchy remarks,. Yes i did read the post properly and was just making a comment which some people replied to saying what i believed to be true but wasn’t sure of.
People like you are a danger to yourself and others, you ‘should know’ what to do with containers, cos I know whos side the magistrate will be on.
well I must be doing something right as i haven’t had a problem yet, but, as they say tomorrow is another day .
My apologies to Gardun for hijacking his thread. I should have started a new one.
merc0447:
What about the tyre companies that use curtainsiders, how do you strap a few hundred loose tyres
Tyres really should be in stillages or a box trailer, anything else is a risk…
Every time i did tyres it was flat on the deck and then make lovely interlocking towers out of them. I can just see you getting far by asking for stillages. Remember they want volume nott something lovely and nice in a little cage with wheels.
That is correct, in fact a load of tyres in a fridge or van sides is not as stable as when they are laced properly in a stiffened or strapped curtain. Normally we delivered the tyres to the warehouses, they handballed them into stillages and took them JIT to the production line.
Aye, but again we are talking about strapped or stiffened with battens etc to carry, no way would you load loose in a bog standard curtainsider, thats asking for problems…
PS, dont ask how I know, it was a long time ago, Continental tyres, A13
we are talking about CURTAINSIDERS…
.