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THE ALUIVIIN 1 UM STANDARD
Page 54
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Benalu wants to emulate the success Stas has recently achieved in the UK by selling its range of all-aluminium tippers, bulkers and tankers. And ex-Crane Fruehauf tipper manager Angus Spooner has been signed up to do it. Brian Weatherley reports.
This story illustrates the close-knit,even incestuous nature of the UK lipping trailer market.The short version is that French trailer maker Benalu is taking a punt at said market with its all-aluminium trailer range. And it has hired Crane Fruehauf s former tipper product manager Angus Spooner (pictured, right) as its UK agent.
There's an irony to that. Crane Fruehauf and Benalu were both part of the ill-starred pan-European GeneralTrailers conglomerate which undoubtedly contributed to CF's demise back in the spring of 2005. That was before its tipping operation was snapped up by Wordsworth Holdings and resurrected as Fruehauf Tippers.
Moreover, when General Trailers fell off its perch in late 2(X)3. Benalu had to endure its own period of uncertainty before being bought by Caravelle. the large French transport engineering and manufacturing operation. According to I .aurcnt De boudt, Benalu's domestic and international sales manager: At the end of November 2003 we had no debts — Benalu was the jewel in the crown of General Trailers." With a production of 2,400 trailers a year and a current turnover of €60m. it's arguable that Benalu was closer to being a 'rnilch cow' for GT.
Today, Benalu has a new owner—and with 35% of its production (mainly tippers) going
for export, it has turned its attention to the UK as a potential growth market. Spooner, a veteran of 38 years with Crane Fruehauf, is certainly no stranger to Benalu's allaluminium tipping trailer range.That's no surprise as he developed a close relationship with his French counterparts during the SESR and GT years. "I used to be green with envy when 1 saw the money spent on Benalu compared with Crane Fruehauf!" he says wryly. But 1 saw their aluminium trailer as a useful complement to what we offered and its payload was always very attractive."
An open market Benakes timing could be fortuitous. UK tippermen have historically viewed allaluminium trailers with suspicion, preferring a steel chassis/alloy body combination, not least for durability. But a certain Belgian allaluminium trailer maker called Stas has in recent years blazed a trail for aluminium trailers in the UK, selling close to 1,000 units in Britain between 1998 and 2005 through its pro-active importer Newton Commercials.
And in a high-profile transfer worthy of the Premier league, last year Newton became the main agent for Fruehauf Tippers — with the result that Stas has lost some of its momentum in the UK.
Interestingly, Stas and Benalu use similar construction techniques when it comes to fabricating their main chassis rails. Rather than
weld the web at the point it meets the chassis flange (as you'd expect in a steel chassis), both use unusualTshaped alloy extrusions supplied by Alusuisse.These have grooves along the base of theT into which the web is slotted then robotically welded.The result is that the main weld in the aluminium chassis rails is effectively in a stress-neutral area.
Spooner accepts that,in the past, alloy trailers built using steel trailer production techniques have given the breed a poor name. but insists:"You get good and bad steel chassis too. Benalu has the know-how to make it work.The UK market is ready for allaluminium trailers — Stas has done well here and we can too. I'm not worried about the product— I'm just concerned about changing the perception."
The payload benefits of an all-alloy trailer will undoubtedly help Stas to make his case. At 6,150kg 'ready to work', Ben alu's 49m3 plank sider Bulkl .iner looks tube a very attractive proposition— especially compar to equivalent steel-chassis bulkers.
The bottom line
-We're siiU talking about a market paid by tonne," explains Spooner. so that's a 300400kg weight saving in today's world. If yo look at a pattern of two loads per day at tonne, a Benalu will earn f7 per day more t an equivalent steel chassis tipper. That's 1 for a 240-day year— right on the bottom lin After years of domination by traditiona bathtub designs, the market for plankside gaining momentum.Whether bought fort easier cleaning and better aerodynamics, (. the ability of thin-wall/Hat-floor models to carry pallets on a return trip. there's no doubting their increasing popularity Plan of attack Spooner sees a typical BulkLiner buyer as working in the general purpose/light aggregate/agricultural tipping sector. Price will be around f..30,000 depending on spec (see the panel). although Spooner says: -Nobody quotes a retail price nowadays."
Although Benalu is kicking off its UK tipper sales push with Bulk Liner (also available as a ribbed version), its most successful model to date in the UK is its PowderLiner bulk silo tanker. It also wants to expand its British line-up with the moving lloorJumboLiner, the OptiLiner a 2.48m-wide pallet-carrying bulk tipper with square corners and its Siderale (or Galactic), a sand, gravel and aggregate tipper weighing in at 5.25 tonnes.
Spooner believes Benalu can win business From both Fruehauf and Weightlifter."not least because I know them". But some industry pundits already detect a cooling off in the tipper-trailer market after a strong period of growth. As one told CM: -I think the market's had its fill of trailers. It was expected to drop off during the past two or three years alter the initial rush to 44 tonnes, yet kept going. But it's certainly not an expanding market."
Spooner is adamant the French company will respond well to tougher UK trading conditions: "I'll he working hard to demonstrate Benalu's benefits to UK operators where it matters most -in their pockets." •