Ernst Riedler Fahrzeugbau- und VertriebsgesmbH, based in the Upper Austrian town of Oberweis, has implemented two vehicle solutions for Swiss transport companies that are intended to enable a reduction of the performance-based heavy-vehicle levy (LSVA) in timber transport.
The basis is a piggyback principle, whereby the lashing trailer is hoisted onto the tractor unit's loading surface during empty trips with the help of a wood-loading crane. The return trip is therefore made without a trailer, reducing the permissible gross vehicle weight of the vehicle combination and thereby lowering the LSVA calculation basis, according to the information.
LSVA: Emission class, kilometres driven and permissible gross vehicle weight determine
The LSVA in Switzerland is calculated from the emissions class, kilometres driven, and the permissible gross vehicle weight of the actually used vehicle combination.
If the trailer is transported as cargo on the truck, only the weight of the tractor unit is included in the calculation. This would result in lower tonne-kilometres and correspondingly lower charges for empty trips.
Two variants
For one of the two solutions, a tie-down setup with ExTe quick-release lash rings was used. These can be released via an integrated mechanism with a foot pedal and swapped into prepared lashing pockets behind the bulkhead. There they are secured with a strap.
The telescoping lashing rings of the tandem trailer are slid in, and the lashing posts are manually folded over. Then a crane lifting yoke is folded up onto the crown-hook guard and locked. Using this lifting yoke the trailer can be hoisted onto the loading surface with the wood loading
crane.
To set it down onto the cargo bed, the trailer's drawbar eye is guided through a bolt integrated in the bulkhead. The trailer is then positioned on the loading surface, the air suspension lowered and the vehicle secured with two lashing straps. The entire procedure can be completed in a few minutes.
In the second vehicle configuration, a body without a continuous flatbed is used. Instead, two ExTe folding frames were hydraulically retrofitted so that the lashing rings can be rotated from the crane seat across the direction of travel via a control valve.
Here too, the telescoping lashing rings are inserted first and the trailer's lashing posts manually folded over. The trailer is then loaded rear-first. The rear is centered in a recess in the bulkhead, the drawbar eye
secured in a foldable support, and the trailer fastened with a strap.
Piggyback procedure up to the loading site in the forest
Both variants enable, according to the information provided, to carry the trailer in a piggyback procedure up to the loading site in the forest. Only after turning the tractor is the trailer set down on the forest road and hooked up. The systems would thus offer advantages in tight space conditions and could increase flexibility in vehicle deployment, it says.
The Riedler company was founded in 1953 and is in its third generation of family ownership. At the Oberweis site near Gmunden, around 50 employees produce on 5,500 square metres of commercial vehicle solutions for timber, wood-chip and general cargo transport as well as special-purpose vehicles for specific requirements.
