DanSteel reached annual savings for more than DKK 1.5 million

Challenge

Ship-based steel transport presents few problems for DanSteel. Trucking, on the other hand, is more complex, with significant limitations when it comes to weight, width and length.

One challenge is that the use of open trailers for steel transport means trucks have few possibilities to lower overall costs by carrying return loads.

Another challenge appeared in 2012, when by customers’ demands, DanSteel invested in a new rolling mill capable of producing plates as wide as 4 metres. This created new transport challenges, since most Northern European road regulations forbid load widths above 3 metres without a long list of special requirements: permit application, route planning, limited travel times, and need for escort vehicles.

Solution

Working together with FREJA, DanSteel set out to resolve the challenges.

The open trailers’ inability to carry return loads is one of the most pressing and costly problems of road steel transport. It was solved by dual-mode (duo) trailers whose canopies could be pushed to the front to expose the open trailer, or pulled back to cover the entire trailer as required by pallet-based return loads.

The over-wide plates of steel transport was solved by new, diagonal trailer construction that uses hydraulic-piston bars to raise the four-metre plates to stand at an angle to the trailer deck – exactly the right angle required to stay within the maximum allowable width of 2.7 metres.