This striking combination was parked in a nearby industrial area – I just couldn’t miss it, when passing by. It’s owned by hauling company Simon Loos and is working for Albert Heijn, or simply AH, the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands. Parent company Ahold Delhaize is also a major player in the United States.
The temperature-controlled, 2013 Krone semi-trailer is coupled to a 2021 Volvo FH tractor unit. Everything is super clean and slick!
There was another food supplier’s big rig just around the corner, yet operating in an entirely different market. The Duynie company brings animal feed to farms. More specifically, the so-called co-products.
The axle spacing and the shape of the fenders indicate that the semi-trailer’s first and third axle are steering axles. When delivering goods to farms, maximum maneuverability is required. Especially when driving on the often narrow corner roads that lead to the farms and while entering and exiting the yard entrances.
A few years older than the Simon Loos tractor, focus on the front light units. Duynie’s 2019 Volvo FH is also powered by the truck maker’s 12.8 liter inline-six, good for 428 hp. The semi-trailer is a 2010 Hobur tanker.
Both combination vehicles have five axles, yet the tanker rig is rated at a gross weight of 50 tons (110,231 lbs), whereas Simon and Albert add up to 46.5 tons (102,515 lbs). The reason: 500 kg extra thanks to the tractor’s heavier front axle plus another 3,000 kg thanks to the semi-trailer’s increased axle spacing.
Enjoy your meal!
Here in the US, the tractor will have a third axle, with just two (non-steering) on the trailer, and the max weight would be 80,000 lbs. I don’t know the regulations for tandem trailers. A Virginia 5% overweight permit used to be $200/yr/truck. Most states didn’t have them.
The company I used to work for sometimes hauled crushed lime to farms with 40′ dump trailers holding 24-25 tons. I once drove the road they used coming down from the Blue Ridge, and it was scary enough in a 2 ton car with good brakes. In 20 years, there was only one major mishap at a farm, when the raised trailer tipped over, and that was because too much of the damp lime had stayed at the top, not because our acidic Piedmont clay was soft. Fortunately, the driver ran away in time, because it fell toward him. But he’d left the driver’s door open, which caused most of the repair bill.
Ralph, thanks for the info and story.
The Duynie-Volvo is rated at 20 tons (8.5 front axle + 11.5 drive axle), the axles of the tanker semi-trailer are rated at 30 tons in total (10 per axle). So exactly 50 metric tons for the whole rig, equal to the Dutch weight limit.
Not a truck guy, although I do appreciate the heavy stuff more than the jacked up pickup trucks used to haul groceries and kids to school.
But the featured truck is an odd layout to my US eyes. The relatively short wheelbase combo with the forward set trailer axles. I don’t see that here. However even the US isn’t completely generic and standard. Here in Calif I’m used to seeing big long 3 axle tractors with 2 axle trailers, 53 feet long. Or sometimes doubles, 2 shorter trailers, all of which have given rise to the term 18 wheeler.. But further north and somewhat to the east, there’s triples, 3 trailers, odd combinations with lots of axles, some I think steering at least at times, let alone specialty combos, such as a 54 wheeler I’ve spotted a couple of times for who knows what kind of load.
If a set of doubles weighing 80,000 pounds coming down the mountain doing 75 behind you doesn’t raise your pulse, how about triples at the same or more, but 100-120,000 pounds, wanting to go faster.