trailer world Issue One 2012

Issue One 2012 31 Photos:RichardKienberger Krallinger sees a breakdown truck some distance away on the hard shoul- der, and decides to keep his distance just in case. So Markus Büngener switches on the “No overtaking” sign on his display system and pulls out into the overtaking lane. The Volvo also pulls over to the left, now driv- ing in the middle of the two carriageways past the obstacle, before moving back to the right-hand lane. This all happens quite calmly; what might be a spectacular sight to other road users is everyday routine for the two heavy transport professionals. Shortly afterwards, the convoy has reached the Pfreimd exit. Twotightcorners,akilometreonthenarrowroadleadingto theindustrialestate,whichisalmostcompletelyfilledbytheoverwidevehi- cle, and Krallinger and Büngener have then reached the destination of this shortday’sroute,andparktheirvehiclesinthespaciousyard. The next excavator is already waiting On the following Sun- day evening shortly before 7 p.m. the trucker climbs into his Volvo again. “It drives just like a coach,” says the 43-year old admiringly of his tractor unit, which is notable short of frills. A down-to-earth, powerful working machine with an automatic gearbox and a coffee machine as the only modern convenience. Büngener is ready with the escort vehicle. The yellow warning lights and beacons light up the night. The destination: Bremerhaven, where the excavator is to be loaded onto a transport ship. The combination of topography and weight poses no problem for the 660 HP truck, “it’s only the dis- tance”, nearly 680 km in total. A transport without any special inci- dents, with two 45-minute breaks (as planned at the service areas of Osterfeld and Börde) and a little blue light at the end: a police escort is required for going through Bremerhaven. Because the guardians of public order have no time in the morning hours, Krallinger and his companion park in a motorway parking area on the outskirts of the port city. The break begins shortly after 4.30 a.m., nine hours as per regulations. The police arrive as agreed at 1.30 p.m. and escort the heavy transport on the remain- ing nine kilometres of the journey. Krallinger, Büngener and their green Sennebogen excavator are then at their destination. They slip into their overalls again to remove the securing chains. The truck driver carefully manoeuvres the excavator off the uncoupled trail- er, connects up again and then takes a look at the display of the telematics system to see what job the dispatch department has planned for him for the coming days. There is no return load, so he travels empty back to Pfreimd, for the brakes to be relined. Then the next Sennebogen excavator will be ready for collection in Wackersdorf. (rk) Even longer than a Gigaliner: The heavy transport with the Senne- bogen excavator has impressive dimensions. Oversized loads are the daily bread of Hans Krallinger. The experienced truck driver works for the Schwandner heavy haulage company of Pfreimd. He initially thinks that the excava- tor will be picked up from the firm of Sennebogen in Wackersdorf and transported to Bremerhaven for shipping, as a “lightweight”. Only when looking at the papers however does it emerge that the machine weighs more than 50 tonnes, driving the overall weight up to 101 tonnes. No problem for Krallinger and his Volvo – it can handle the weight easily. It only becomes tricky on trunk roads when other truckers meet the heavy transport. The documents are brought to the truck for the photographer. Otherwise the paperwork is handled in the portacabin. More information on the transports of P. Schwandner Logistik + Transport GmbH can be found at www.schwandner-logistik.de

trailer world Issue One 2012

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