This is an excerpt of a press-release I got from Boydstun today:
“Our record using the screw actuator/soft-tie strap system has been tremendous,” said Jeff Odway, National Fleet Manager for L. Hansen’s Forwarding Ltd. “We were fortunate in reducing damages significantly in the first year of a new contract. Damage reductions were attributed to the screw system running 99.77% damage free while moving approximately 22,000 vehicles in the first year.”
I actually talked to this gentleman a month or so ago, and he said that the strap trucks are actually extending the careers of some car haulers by five years or more. He said that there have been guys actually coming out of retirement to run these trucks.
He really put it in perspective, explaining that the physical demands of loading and unloading cars on a chain truck are pretty significant. You've got the weight of the chain itself, the force that it takes to crank the ratchets, plus the fact of having to climb up on the top deck to hook and unhook vehicles. It beats up on your body!
I wonder how long it's going to take the worker's comp insurance actuaries to figure out that this new technology decreases risk? Seems like decreased insurance expense would be an added benefit of going with the new technology.
Walter Frobos, who runs the shop for Southeast Auto Transport, has had similar luck hauling Toyotas with the new Boydstun screw trailers. Southeast Auto Transport is a division of JM Family Enterprises, 16th biggest privately held firm in the US. Last time I talked with him he was buying a bunch of the new trucks!