There’s nothing sweeter than a lightweight aluminium truck trailer… except perhaps a lightweight aluminium truck trailer hauling sugar. In Brazil, Alcoa is helping to bring in the harvest.
Thanks to a new Alcoa-designed lightweight aluminium truck trailer, Brazilian sugarcane growers are now able to harvest their crop in larger bulk.
The aluminium company worked with Sergomel, a Brazilian truck and trailer bodies manufacturer, to develop a fuel-efficient aluminium transport in cooperation with the Sugarcane Technology Center, the industry’s research and development group based in Brazil. Thanks to aluminium extrusions in the trailer body and forged aluminium wheels, the aluminium trailer is about 35% lighter than its steel counterpart, amounting to a seven-ton reduction. This means the sugar haulers benefit from an increased payload, consume 7% less fuel, and enjoy a consequent reduction in CO2 emissions.
The aluminium-bodied sugarcane hauler provides both significant cost and environmental advantages to this market. It is lighter, yet stronger than steel, offers and allows for greater payload. The unit, being made of aluminium, is infinitely recyclable.
