Tomoana Transport managing director Stewart Taylor unveils the new $1.7m truck. Photo / Paul Taylor
Tomoana Transport managing director Stewart Taylor unveils the new $1.7m truck. Photo / Paul Taylor
A Hastings logistics company has revealed a new $1.7 million specially-designed truck and trailer unit that will help keep building the nation's bridges.
Tomoana Warehousing managing director Stewart Taylor said the company decided to invest in the 55-tonne, 56-wheel, purpose built modular transporter and heavy duty tractor unit tokeep pace with the increasing dimensions for bridge construction that now required up to 40m of trailer to carry up to 90-tonne loads.
Commissioned in collaboration with bridge building company Eastbridge, the unit comprises a 650hp Mercedes Actros tractor unit, along with a 56-wheel trailer. The wheels can steer independently, either controlled automatically by sensors to follow the truck, or can be manually over-ridden to avoid obstacles.
"When carting steel bridge beams, the front three rows are separated from the rear four rows, and the beam is placed across the two parts to enable long loads [40m plus] to be carried, enabling the vehicle to manoeuvre and spread the weight evenly across axles.
"The all-wheel drive combined with the advanced transmission means the combination can climb steep grades such as the Saddle Rd between Woodville and Ashurst without assistance from another truck. A It also enables access into construction sites on temporary site access roads, which are normally unsealed.
"For over a decade, Tomoana has been supplying transport to Eastbridge using conventional trucks, often transporting over dimension under permit. We had reached the limits for conventional trucks and to remain relevant to Eastbridge with the increasing dimensions for bridge construction, we needed to obtain a vehicle with greater capacity.
"We felt that this was an exciting opportunity to participate in a significant infrastructure project that will continue over a number of years.
"The NZTA projects include Transmission Gully, Hamilton and Huntly bypasses and Puhoi to Warkworth Motorway, amongst others."
