IMS adds value with trailer urbanisation
Trailer technology provider IMS Group has outlined how the latest steering solutions can help fleets optimise their trailer units for urban use.
“There’s a rapidly growing need to transport goods into urban areas where vehicles need to negotiate sharp corners and small roundabouts in often highly congested environments,” said IMS sales and marketing manager Ben McEvoy.
“It’s called urbanisation and it’s driving the increased specification of steered trailers.
“IMS Group offers the broadest range of trailer steering solutions to enable progressive transport operators optimise their fleets.”
The company says its trailer steering solutions can significantly boost fleets’ productivity by allowing longer trailers to be deployed in areas normally dominated by urban trailers and rigids.
“A 45ft (13.6m) trailer equipped with electro-hydraulic steering can easily access locations normally serviced by a standard 33ft (10m) urban trailer; a straight ahead 40 per cent capacity increase,” said Ben.
“And in a great many instances, a steered trailer can replace rigids, not only significantly increasing load carrying capability but boosting vehicle productivity – often by over 30 per cent.”
In addition, environmental impact is reduced by virtue of increased load volumes and fewer journeys, says Ben.
Among the IMS product portfolio are the VSE electro-hydraulic steering systems, said to offer a lightweight means of helping trailers get “where they’ve never been before”, with reduced wear and optimal manoeuvrability.
Configurable for one to three steered axles, they require minimal installation space, says IMS, and low maintenance costs, while offering around a 500kg weight reduction as compared to other systems.
IMS also supplies the SEM and GreenSteering mechanical steering systems, designed and engineered in the Netherlands by IMS Group’s parent company. In-house expertise and production mean trailer builders’ bespoke requirements can be easily accommodated, says IMS. Benefits cited include reduced tyre wear, fuel and maintenance costs, and constant and consistent steering behaviour.
Also available are SAF Self-Steer axles, said to be particularly suited to longer wheelbase semi-trailers operating on tight, winding roads, and configurable in many different forms to suit specific applications.
Meanwhile, VSE Smart Steering is an electro-hydraulic steering assistance system enabling one trailing axle to be steered during forward and reverse driving, making it suitable for a broader range of loading and unloading situations.
Finally, IMS also offers the new SEM SI independent suspension system, designed to 
meet the demand for lifting deck trailers with their ability to move far greater cubic capacity than standard semi-trailers. The first units are already in operation in the Netherlands.
With SEM SI, two lifting deck trailers are capable of carrying as much product as three conventional trailers, says IMS. The system features the SAF-Holland stub axle/420×180 drum brake combination designed for extended, trouble-free service.
