while my friends and i were on the road over the holidays i noticed at semi hauling a container with no roof, or what i assume was no roof as it had some very large tyres protruding from the top, im guessing they were for mining vehicles. has anybody else seen this before? and know why they would do this? thanks
I would guess that putting them in an open-top container saved them having to be tied down securely, much quicker and easier
Open top containers tend to get used for goods that are too bulky to load through the door opening on a standard container, you can lower a load in through the roof instead. As these tyres were taller than the container they could only be loaded on an open top or a flatrack container. Here's a couple more pics of open top boxes: http://members.tripod.com/~GHannes/maeu4627362.jpg http://members.tripod.com/~GHannes/klfu4005023.jpg taken from Matt Hannes rather useful container webpage! Which is here. http://members.tripod.com/~intermodal_fan/sea_containers1.htm
Prior to retiring in 2000, I had worked 37 years for a company that manufactured mining equipment.One of the product lines was mobile equipment, with articulated steering,[Most wheeled mobile mining equipment steers by "bending" in the middle, using hydraulic cylinders] Over the decades, equipment had become larger and larger, by customer demand. I
OOPS...I hit a wrong key and posted an unfinished message...sorry ! Anyway, in the 90's, we started using open-top containers for equipment that was so wide, it could no longer be end-loaded [driven] into a standard container. With some equipment, we designed it so that it would fit into a container AFTER the wheels were removed, to maximize the size. The whole concept of open top containers requires at least equal sized cranes at each end of the journey, and because most mining is in remote mountainous regions of the Third World, most of these open-tops have to be destuffed [unloaded] long before the goods reach the end user's jobsite. It's a daunting task to get big equipment to the end user, always has been, always will be. In the days before open-tops, and before that, in the days when container companies would not permit their property to be shipped to the Third World [ never get it back !], we used to have to ship the big machines as "deck cargo", chained to a deck for the voyage! Lots of damage often resulted. Best regards / Mike
I've seen hundreds of those open top containers on D&H trains headed west from Binghamton NY. Most are covered with tarps or nets and are filled with garbage. Very smelly trains on a hot summer day, not one you want to get parked next to. There must be money in trash because they haul a lot of it.
