Page 14 - CTB N13 - 2016-01

COMPANY NEWS
Samskip Achieve Fewer Breakdowns and Higher Performance with Ventech Pneuscan
In the Samskip Multimodal Rail Terminal in Duisburg; Germany the Dutch Intermodal Logistics Provider Samskip is making an active contribution to improving safety on European roads. A Ventech Systems developed Pneuscan system has been installed to check tyre pressure and tread depth before the trucks and trailers start off on their road and rail trips.
A 10 km/h sign urges truckers steering their trucks at one-minute intervals onto the Samskip Duisburg rail terminal facilities to drive at walking pace.
When passing the roofed equipment bright LED columns light up, the vehicle is "photographed" by means of eight cameras all around, and the license plates are scanned as well as the unit number. Then, the wheels
of the multi-axle transport unit will roll over the sensor surface installed into the floor.
Without the man at the steering wheel noticing it, all tyres are automatically checked within seconds for the optimum air pressure and correct tread depth. The data detected by the system is forwarded in real time to the car pool management - even though this is located in distant Genemuiden in the Netherlands. At Samskip, the results will be analysed; necessary measures will be introduced and coordinated all over Europe.
Fleet Manager Tim van der Roest explains the background details: "We took the decision to carry out automatic tyre inspection by means of the Pneuscan system, because we are able to significantly reduce
procurement and breakdown costs thanks to reduced downtime, more punctual arrival at the national and international Intermodal terminals, and, as we are therefore able to consolidate our image at our customers. Last but not least our transport units contribute to increased traffic safety on European streets."
500 passages per day
The railway terminal in Duisburg Hohenbudberg exclusively used by Samskip is relatively
new, but conceived for dynamic development. The Intermodale turntable taken into operation two years ago handles the Samskip traffic and connects the "Rhein-Ruhr" region among others to Scandinavia, Benelux, France, Italy and UK as well as to the Baltic and East- European countries. The terminal uses above all the favourable surface- transport interfacing to the four-lane L 473N and from there directly to the highway A 57 as well as the proximity to Logport I and to Chempark.
"Eight 750m-long handling rails, two sidings and two gantry cranes in connection with two reach stackers ensure that up to 200,000 load units can be handled per year", explains Frank Schneider, head of the Duisburg Rail
Terminal from
Samskip.
In spite of the high
overall traffic on the
Areal, the tyre
inspection
equipment set into
operation at the
beginning of 2015 is
integrated into the
traffic flow without
any problems.
Manager Schneider:
"Although we register
more than 500
passages per day,
there are no
bottlenecks in the
'normal' process
chain of the Terminal
services. The data
feedback does, in our
case, not concern the
drivers in the first
place, but the
measured data is
directly transmitted
to Genemuiden." The data flow is enormous. As the complete vehicle - i.e. the towing truck and the trailer or container - is detected by means of the camera system from Camco as well as by the Ventech Pneuscan system, around 10 MB of data are saved per passage.
A Checker inspects each transport unit with respect to its availability to ship for the Intermodal traffic. In parallel, a separate workshop as well as a tyre service partner make sure that any intervention is possible both quickly and efficiently, and that downtime can be avoided as far as possible.
Future-oriented investment
In the context of the overall Samskip strategy, to expand the pan-
European networks via rail, water and road, big investments are made into concept and structure. Part of the company philosophy also covers topics such as economic efficiency, ecology and safety.
Tim van der Roest confirms: "When we decided to purchase the Pneuscan equipment, we considered the benefits in sustainability as well as immediate advantages. By means of the investment in the tyre inspection system we intended to lower costs, increase traffic safety and last not least to contribute to a cleaner environment." The current evaluation of the detected data on tyre pressure and tread depth shows that the number of tyre breakdowns and the tyres replaced per year in trucks, trailers and container chassis
is clearly decreasing.
“Our expectation is“, says the head of the car pool, “to achieve a reduction of 80 percent of failures by means of the Pneuscan equipment.”
As Pneuscan’s already proven concept of automatic tyre inspection can be expanded, Duisburg and Genemuiden are presently thinking about new applications. Together with the Sales Manager Frank Stelling from Ventech Systems, Tim van der Roest and Frank Schneider are discussing new software solutions and the application of additional Ventech Tools, such as the detection of axis load.
14 Commercial Tyre Business