Santander Equipos, a truck body and trailer manufacturer based in Paine, Chile, was named a finalist for The Swedish Steel Prize is awarded annually by SSAB.
“Our customers wanted to increase their competitiveness and profitability per unit through a lighter trailer that could transport more cargo, and that also had a more attractive design,” said Gonzalo Santander, general manager and owner of Santander Equipos. “The trailer’s main characteristic, which uses high-strength steel, is a much lower tare weight.”
Because of the reduction in weight, seven of these trailers can transport the same amount of payload as eight of the trailers this design replaces, according to the jury that named Santander a finalist for the prize.
Designed to transport pallets of beverages, the trailer features a curved roof that improves the aerodynamics at cruising speed and can carry around 32 tons. Instead of two main beams like most flatbed trailers, it has only one. The bogie has a floating structure instead of being fixed.
A conventional beam design in the main frame has been replaced by a bolted lattice structure made of advanced high-strength steel. The trailer’s backbone is a center space frame consisting of three parallel C-beams linked by a cross member diagonal.
“It weighs about two and a half tonnes less than our previous model; 5,300 kg instead of 7,800 kg,” said Santander.
First awarded in 1999, the Swedish Steel Prize exists to inspire and increase knowledge surrounding the use of high-strength steel to develop lighter, safer and more sustainable products.
The winner of the Swedish Steel Prize will receive a stipend of SEK 100,000 and a trophy by Jörg Jeschke. The award ceremony is part of a three-day event at which approximately 600 international representatives from the global manufacturing and steel industry will participate in seminars and site visits at SSAB.