Demountable Concepts, Inc. introduces the new ISO Container Adaptor Frame (ICAF) that increases the versatility of straight-trucks equipped with the Demountable Truck Body System. With the ICAF, a standard 20-foot ISO container can be quickly secured and transported by straight-truck to a ship yard, rail head or job site on a demountable flat-bed truck body. Once the container is unloaded, the flat-bed can be loaded with freight for the return trip, or vice versa.
With the Demountable Truck Body System straight-trucks can quickly and easily switch between multiple cargo bodies of the same or different type; i.e., van, curtain-side, flat-bed. The ISO Container Adaptor Frame takes the system’s versatility a step further by enabling a demountable flat-bed body to multi-purpose as a container transporter. This creates more flexibility for fleet mangers by providing a useful logistics option: utilizing inexpensive and readily available commercial shipping containers with straight-trucks.
One operation to benefit from the ICAF is Atlantic Scaffolding’s Baltimore Regional Office located in Columbia, Maryland, who added the ICAF to new flat-bed bodies recently acquired from Demountable Concepts. Regional Manager, Mike Simonsen states, “We’ve kept our fleet costs low for years by using demountable flat-beds. We recently added the ICAF option to aid in job site waste removal. Now, the flat-bed that normally carries our scaffolding can be easily transformed into a container truck in minutes. The added flexibility, without having to buy another truck, has been tremendous.”
Along with eliminating the need to purchase or lease specialized trucks for occasional use, the system’s flexibility cuts time out of the loading and delivery cycle and increases efficiency throughout the operation’s labor pool.
The following example demonstrates the economies created by the Demountable System with the ICAF Option. First thing in the morning a straight-truck demounts an empty van body at the facility’s loading dock and mounts an ICAF equipped flat-bed body that’s been pre-loaded with a shipping container. The truck transports the container to its destination where it is unloaded. While there, freight is loaded onto the flat-bed for the return trip to the facility. Upon returning to the facility, the flat-bed is demounted and the truck mounts the now fully-loaded van body that was left at the dock in the morning and departs to make another delivery.
Without the demountable system this scenario requires three trucks: a van body, a container truck and a flat bed. The demountable system accomplishes it with one truck and two bodies. It’s also quicker, requires fewer drivers and less expensive to operate.
The ISO Container Adaptor Frame is built into the flat-bed’s body and a standard 20-foot container can be locked down by turning a lever under each of the container’s corners. No alterations are required to the container so it can be utilized for traditional commercial shipping at any time.
The Demountable System consists of a hydraulic lifting and lock-down mechanism installed onto the straight-truck’s chassis to facilitate swapping bodies, and heavy-duty galvanized steel retractable legs built into the base-frame of each body so it can stand on its own and be loaded independent of the truck.
Demountable Concepts, Inc., established in 1989, is North America’s premier manufacturer and supplier of the Demountable Truck Body System for straight-trucks and the Warehouse on Wheels Portable Distribution Center. Their clients include general and furniture retailers, building supply, lumber and millwork manufacturers, beverage distributors, food service and snack food companies, party rental suppliers, nurseries and others.
The system is available through most commercial truck leasing companies and dealerships and the company has a North American service network that installs the Demountable System and the ICAF option onto new and existing trucks. Demountable Concepts also supplies truck body builders with the parts necessary to make bodies interchangeable.