Schmitz Cargobull into NZ
GLOBAL TRAILERMAKER SCHMITZ CARGOBULL HAS broken into the New Zealand market…in a big way.
In a partnership deal with Kiwi trailer manufacturer Fruehauf, it’s supplying 42 refrigerated truck and trailer bodies to the Halls Group.
e deal sees Fruehauf, recently appointed Schmitz Cargobull’s NZ agent, importing some of the trailers fully built – and building the rest here, assembling imported Schmitz Cargobull CKD body panel kits, for tment to its own chassis.
e order comprises nine nine-axle HPMV truck and trailer units (thus 18 bodies), 16 fully-imported tri-axle semi-trailers for metro operations and eight quad-axle semis.
Halls has speci ed that the dual-temperature units – with side and rear doors – are built of Schmitz Cargobull’s patented Ferroplast panelling.
And, in an Asia-Paci c rst, they also have the German company’s own telematics-enabled refrigeration units.
Andreas Schmitz, chairman of the board of the company that built over 50,000 trailers worldwide in 2015/’16 – generating 1.779billion Euro in sales – nalised the deal with Hall Group executive directors Grant and Craig Madill and MD Alan Pearson and Fruehauf director and sales manager Je Mear at the Brisbane Truck Show.
Says Schmitz: “ e landmark sale covers about 35% of the annual sales volume for refrigerated transport equipment in NZ, so we’re extremely proud to support the NZ industry in such a comprehensive way.”
Halls, which has over 300 solid-sided refrigerated trailers in its eet, will use the Schmitz Cargobull units on its contract with Progressive Enterprises, for deliveries to its Countdown supermarkets.
Schmitz Cargobull Australia GM Tobias Hessing says that a “strong relationship with Fruehauf…has been instrumental” in securing the deal, just two months after a supply agreement with Fruehauf was completed.
“ e expansion, with Fruehauf NZ, into the NZ marketplace is a huge success for our team and a testament to the quality of the Schmitz Ferroplast product.”
e Ferroplast panels, Mear explains, have galvanised steel outer skins with a special high-density foam insulation in between – the strength of the steel removing the need for reinforcement in the walls.
Schmitz Cargobull says other bene ts include the prevention of water ingress into the panels, thus no weight gain; low heat storage capacity, resulting in faster temperature pulldown times; the durable steel skins “never get brittle;” and the panels are easily repaired and deliver improved uptime.
e order takes Fruehauf into a new area of the trailer market: In their eight years of operation, owners Mear and Phil Watchorn have only built “one or two” hard-siders.
Now, on the back of the Halls order, they have established a separate Fruehauf division – dedicated to producing Schmitz Cargobull Ferroplast bodies and trailers. It has its own Auckland assembly and manufacturing production line and 10 extra sta have been employed to man it.
Delivery of the Halls units is scheduled to begin in early October and extend through to the end of the year.
e imported CKD kits, comprising a prefabricated Ferroplast oor, roof, walls and doors, can be assembled in three and a half days, Mear says. Once a stockpile of the kits and chassis sections is established, the company aims to be able to build a Schmitz Cargobull semi-trailer in two weeks.
To support the refrigerated trailers and bodies, Fruehauf has also established a service network,with facilities in Auckland, Palmerston North and Christchurch.
Mear says that Schmitz patented its Ferroplast technology in 1978 – “and they say that 90% of Europe has gone away from traditional glass bodies and gone to this type of body now.
“It’s exciting for us – rstly to be selected by Schmitz as their agent and secondly to be able to back it up with a big order….to have someone like Halls as a launch customer, and in a reasonable quantity.”
T&D