Vasant Fabricators Pvt. Ltd. (VFPL), a name to be reckon with in the truck-trailer industry, has proved its mettle with its technical know-how turning out specialized heavy bodies from time to time. At the Truck, Trailer & Tyre Expo, the company showcased two products that were quite an attraction. One was the LPG gas tanker and the other aluminum tipping bulker, to be manufactured in India for the first time.
The LPG tanker was of 38.5 cubic metre capacity and the company offers it with running gear, as a single unit. “Generally, in our country the customer has to deal with a couple of stake-holders – one who supplies the tank and the other one who supplies the running gear. We intend to provide a one-stop solution, as in the complete unit, with running gear as well as gas tanker,” said Mr. Nikhil Panchal, Technical Director, VFPL.
The LPG gas tanker showcased was manufactured as per the AIS 1134 specification, and the trailer also comes fitted with ABS fitment. The running gear comes with a telescopic lending gear (leg) on which the trailer rests in parking place. “Others may provide it the tanker with manual landing gears and the customer has to fit a jack and raise the trailer,” revealed Mr. Panchal.
Notably, the trailers are short blasted and then painted with PU paint. The one that was displayed was 100 per cent radiograph and stress relived. “The material for this trailer construction is SA516 Grade 70 – boiler quality grade – and that is the ‘must’ use material for LPG tanks. These are the minimum criteria for the safety of the tank and the trailer. We also have dish end flanging machine in house. Very few people have this in the industry. We have two of these machines, each of 19 mm thickness and with different diameter sizes,” revealed Mr. Panchal.
Advancing with aluminum
Another product displayed was the tip bulker made of aluminium (bulker), while the chassis was made of high strength steel. Aluminium is said to have been imported from Greece and belongs to a 5083-grade aluminum widely used in Europe. The tank can carry foodgrains like wheat flour, barley and PTA powder which is currently carried in stainless steel (SS) tanker.
Said Mr. Panchal: “Our target customers are using the heavy SS tanker to carry the bulk material. The aluminum tanker is 40 cubic metre and gives 1.5 metric tonne payload benefit. It is lighter 1.5 metric tonnes than the SS tanker. Our aim is to promote and help replace customers having SS with aluminum tankers; as the price difference is less than high tensile steel. In stainless steel customers can be convinced, as they are paying 20 per cent higher than SS but are also getting 1.5 tonnes payload higher in return. The extra money gets reimbursed with the extra payload with 12-18 months of operation.”
It is high time for Indian manufacturers as no Indian company has so far managed to offer aluminum bulker in the application that Vasant Fabricators is aiming at (foodgrains, PTA powders, etc). We can find a few foreign made fuel tanker used by fleet operators in India. Although demand is currently less due to pricing, nobody can deny that aluminum tankers are going to be the future.
“The world over everybody is using aluminum. It is 20 per cent lighter than the high tensile steel grade and 50 per cent lighter than the mild steel. We can also make the chassis with aluminum added with air suspension in case of customer demand. If the chassis is made of aluminum it will further reduce 1 tonne load and the customer will benefit. What we have displayed is mechanical suspensions (13 tonnes) form York with YPS axles which gives 3 lakh km hub greasing intervals with 2 lakh km warranty,” beamed the Technical Director.
According to him, people can also use the aluminum tankers for cement, but right now they are using high-tensile steel. To switch over they have to pay almost double the high tensile steel. “We have also produced two V-shaped aluminum bulkers that carried PTA powders. To take off the worry of servicing, we are offering on site support, even welding is covered.”
Vasant Fabricators produces around 40-45 rigid bulker and bulker trailers per month. The company is expanding its facility in Chappi, Gujarat, to accommodate gas tanker demand. “Expansion will not increase our bulker capacity but will increase our gas tankers capacity. If we have low requirement in cement we divert our attention to different materials like soda ash, paint or steel industry to balance our portfolio. Clubbing both bulkers and gas tankers will give us a capacity which is double the current size,” concluded Mr. Panchal.