This combination perfectly represents the current generation of raw milk haulers in my country; a 4×2 tractor with a heavy-duty front axle (resulting in a higher axle load and thus a higher GVM), towing a tridem axle semi-trailer.
Such rigs collect milk at the dairy farms, which means twisting and turning on backroads and farm yards all day long. For that reason, two of the three semi-trailer axles are always steering axles.
Furthermore, all modern tanker semi-trailers have super single tires. Dual wheels have gone (rolled?) the way of the dodo in this line of business, regardless of what’s in the tank.
Our generic term for a milk hauler is Rijdende Melk Ontvangst, or simply RMO. Translated, a Driving Milk Reception.
The Renault tractor is powered by a Volvo-based 10.8 liter inline-six, 345 kW/469 DIN-hp. Renault Trucks is a wholly owned subsidiary of Volvo Trucks.
Magyar from France built the semi-trailer. The company is a specialist in manufacturing all types of tank haulers.
The semi-trailer’s first and third axle are steering axles, while the first axle is also liftable. The legal maximum GVM of the whole combination is 50,000 kg, equal to the national weight limit for big rigs.
The registered total curb weight is 17,342 kg; 7,352 kg for the tractor and 9,990 kg for the semi-trailer.
When the axle spacing is more than 180 cm (71”), which is the case here, the maximum axle load is 10,000 kg per axle. With a standard semi-trailer tridem (130 to 180 cm axle spacing) that would be 9,000 kg per axle.
The hauling company -collecting both cow and goat milk- put a big banner on the left side of the tank, they are looking for drivers. Too bad for them that our experienced milkman Bryce lives on the other side of the planet.
It’s quite common that an RMO runs 200,000 to 225,000 km a year, working at least 20 hours a day. That’s not only driving, but also loading and unloading. Not with one and the same driver, as you will understand.
This short video shows the job of an RMO driver in a nutshell. Say cheese!
Here in California, most milk is produced at smallish farms that are part of regional dairy cooperatives. So any road trip in dairy country exposes one to quite a few milk tankers, sometimes turning on or off the highway onto tight, unpaved farm roads. But our tankers look quite different, and of course always pulled by conventional tractors. Invariably highly polished tanks, though.
Most cow milk here goes to the Friesland-Campina dairy cooperation.
Big business, as the key financial figures show (in English):
https://www.frieslandcampina.com/en/organisation/key-financial-figures/
I live near Petaluma, CA, a major milk producing area. Driving behind one of those mirror-like polished milk tankers is like looking at your own car through the wrong end of a telescope.
Keeping one of these rigs all clean and shiny must be an enormous task.
Actually keeping them shiny is not too difficult, just a constant wash down routine. Broom and soap at end of shift or when unloading.
I wouldnt mind a turn in that rig, over this way farm collection tankers are truck and trailer rigs four axle trucks and either four or five axle trailers, some areas have weight restrictions due to ancient wooden bridges so weights are kept down on those routes, Fonterra the local dairy giant uses Volvo trucks having tried lots of others they found Volvos to be the most durable and reliable for their type of work other collection companies have Scanias, The mob I work for are sub contractors doing the distance work from transfer station to factory and we use Paccar trucks DAFs and Kenworths, DAFs being much nicer to drive, if youre going to spend 70 hours a week driving something quiet and comfort are king.
Fonterra is a dairy giant indeed. Their European division is based in Amsterdam. Up north in the Netherlands they also have a large production facility, expanding as we speak.
So Magyar is a French company? “Magyar” is Hungarian for “Hungarian.” How did that happen?
That’s funny! The company’s full name is “G. Magyar”, so I assume -for now- it’s simply the man’s last name.
Website: http://www.gmagyar.com/
The most famous French person of Hungarian descent might be a certain Nicolas Sarkozy….
Driving to see my wife’s relatives one Christmas morning years ago I saw many shiny trucks like this going to and from dairy farms in Lancaster County, PA. That’s when I realized that if you own a dairy farm you don’t get any holidays off.
The strange thing about milk trucks is that they are not refrigerated. They are like a giant Thermos. They are insulated and that shiny surface reflects the sun. The cooling process takes place at the farm where the milk goes through a pre-coolor, which is like a radiator full of cool well water that blasts the milk down to a cooler temperature that makes it easier for the refrigeration unit on the bulk tank to do its job. When the truck loads the milk it’s down to about 34 degrees F. That truck can sit in the sun all day and only go up 2 degrees. With a relatively short shelf life, getting the milk to the processing plant quickly eliminates the need for truck refrigeration.
That’s fascinating … I’ve actually never thought of the intricacies of milk transportation before. I found this post and the video very interesting.
What Fonterra do here is keep their oiwn tankers on a short leash when the flush is on, they cut down on mileage wear and tear etc by only carting into a transfer station, from there milk is pumped into contractor trucks which cart it to the factories all the tankers run 24 hrs per day double shifted, also if there is a factory breakdown milk can be transferred to other factories by contractors leaving the collection from farm trucks free to do their thing, cows dont understand factory outages and have to be milked anyway, an app on the truck tablet tells you where you are going with each load, Someone in a room somewhere keeps track of what 100+ contractor trucks are doing and programms it all, I’ll stick to the driving end of it much easier.