TRACTOR/TRAILERS PUSHING UP THE LIMIT.

As increasingly greater demands are made upon terminal equipment to improve overall efficiency and throughput, the equipment manufacturer must look toward new ways of improving the performance of his product. This is particularly true of the tractor/trailer combination, whether employed in container or ro-ro ports. While ideally, lessening the number of container movements on trailers will reduce costs and increase efficiency, carrying two or four containers at one time can present design problems and the total cost of this solution may not justify the improvements in handling. However, the trend is being set toward these larger loads, and large ro-ro vessels are in operation whcih can accept such multicontainer systems. This, in turn, presents greater design problems for the tractor manufacturers as their product is required to pull double its previous rating while still maintaining the same size and maneuverability.