The global semi-trailer sales are increasing year by year

Trailer refers to the vehicle that is pulled by the tractor and has no power drive device itself. It is an important road transportation tool in modern society. According to the connection mode of trailer and traction, it can be divided into full trailer and semi-trailer. Among them, a semi trailer is drawn by a tractor and part of its mass is borne by the tractor.

In recent years, thanks to the growth of the global economy, especially the active construction activities in China and India, semi-trailer sales have been increasing year by year. According to Frost&Sullivan data, in 2013, the global semi-trailer sales volume was 901,700 units, to 2017 semi-trailer sales volume has increased to 1.179,900 units, a compound annual growth rate of 7.0%; In 2018, affected by the global economic slowdown, semi-trailer sales may decline, estimated at about 1.176,400.

From a regional point of view, North America, China and Europe are still the main sales markets of semi-trailers in the world. First, let's look at North America. Drived by demand in the United States, semi-trailer sales in North America continued to rise from 275,000 in 2013 to 364,900 in 2017, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.3%. Semi-trailer sales in North America are expected to continue to grow to 401,800 units in 2018.

Flatbed trailer stacking

After years of development in China, semi-trailer market has begun to take shape, especially in 2016-2017 by the state for the super policy influence, concentrated rights of highway freight car market for pulling effect, increased sales, but the super cure policy dividend release function abate, at the same time high base, and road transportation to transfer multiple factors, such as railway transportation in 2018, semi-trailer sales in China is expected to decline to 387000 units, 7.3% less than in 2017.

The great development of semi-trailer in Europe began in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With the expansion of the Western European market to Central and Eastern Europe, the circulation space of goods was released, and the flexible, fast and efficient transportation of semi-trailer was fully demonstrated. In recent years, due to the increased demand to replace ageing semi-trailers, semi-trailer sales in Europe have experienced a small increase, from 204,600 units in 2013 to 233,600 units in 2017, a compound annual growth rate of 3.4%, and semi-trailer sales in 2018 are expected to be 220,400 units.

In addition to the above three regions, the economic development of other countries and regions in the world such as India and Brazil has gradually improved in recent years, which promotes the steady rise of semi-trailer sales. In 2017, semi-trailer sales in other countries and regions around the world reached 164,200 units, an increase of 7.6% year on year, and it is expected that semi-trailer sales will continue to rise to 17,500 units in 2021.

Lightweight, technological innovation is the theme of future development

Semi-trailer production data attribute determines its market development closely related to macro economic situation, the future of the global economy will remain in the low speed growth, but still exists bigger difference of regional development, infrastructure construction, especially highway construction will continue to advance, bring business opportunities for global semi industry development, especially logistics semi-trailer will have larger development space.

aluminum alloy fuel tank is lightweight

From the new product layout of the semi-trailer production enterprises, more and more aluminum alloy parts are applied to the trailer, aluminum alloy parts have the advantages of light weight, long service life, good recycling, etc., while ensuring the strength of the vehicle to reduce part of the weight, effectively reduce the fuel consumption. However, compared with steel, aluminum alloy material is slightly less safe and durable. As an important direction for the future development of semi-trailer and even the entire automobile industry, lightweight needs to focus on solving the balance problem between the weight reduction of the vehicle itself and the safety and durability.

Lightly semi-trailer can be achieved in several points:

1. Reduce the thickness of the plate. High - grade steel, good strength, toughness and fatigue resistance.

2. Reduce rear axle weight. Axle and suspension is now close to two tons, only light bridge, disc brake, 4 plate spring, new lifting lug, vacuum tire, single tire and so on are effective methods.

3. Variable suspension. Air bag suspension can be used, which is less used.

4. Reduce the weight of accessories. Reduce the weight of bumpers, side shields, mesh spare tire racks, tool boxes, tarpaan racks, etc.

5. There is also the use of suspension rear bridge, which is known as the last bridge can be improved when not in use. Now the most commonly used method is to use high strength steel, reduce the weight.

stainless steel fuel tanker

From the development history of semi-trailers all over the world, technological innovation has always been an important development direction of enterprise product research and development. With the increasing market competition, the competitive advantage of labor-intensive products won by price will be weakened in the future, and technological innovation will become the driving force for the growth of trailer enterprises and even the whole semi-trailer industry. Especially in China, at the present stage, semi-trailer enterprises in China generally have low technology halos, simple product processes and serious homogenization. Semi-trailer industry has gradually changed from the original emphasis on sales volume to the current emphasis on technology.

On the premise of maintaining the same or even optimized overall quality, performance and cost of the vehicle, the lightweight semi-trailer reduces the reconfiguration weight of the trailer as much as possible, thus increasing the bearing mass and greatly improving the comprehensive benefits of the trailer.

Logistics transportation efficiency has space to improve, semi-trailer transportation is helpful to improve transportation turnover efficiency

China's logistics industry has developed rapidly in recent years, but the transport cost is relatively high. The total cost of social logistics in China accounts for about 14.8% of GDP, while the figure in the United States is about 8%, which reflects that there is space for improvement in China's transportation efficiency. The road transport efficiency is relatively low, and no intensive and efficient operation system has been formed at present. In 2019, the empty load rate of China's road transport is as high as 40%. Semi-trailer as the main force of domestic cargo transport, its development directly affects the efficiency of road transport. In China's transportation market, there is still a lot of space for growth in the towing ratio of slick-trailer transportation, and there is a lot of space for growth in the production and sales of semi-trailers in the future.

drop side wall trailer

With the upgrading of logistics industry, road transportation has a higher requirement for specialization

With the improvement of the level of economic development and the continuous expansion of the scale of the logistics industry, the internal division of labor in the road transportation industry has been deepened and the specialization has been accelerated. The road transport industry has promoted the importance of professional transport vehicles, and dedicated vehicles have gradually become a consensus. Semi-trailer professional development is more conducive to the benign development of the logistics industry.

Semi trailer industry development trend

(1) Transformation and upgrading from traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing

Compared with the passenger car manufacturing industry, the semi-trailer industry started late, but the new round of manufacturing revolution will drive the rapid upgrading of the industry, and shorten the gap with the advanced manufacturing level of passenger cars. The development of semi-trailer industry focuses on the intelligent manufacturing process. By establishing intelligent factories and digital workshops, enterprises in the industry are accelerating the application of human-machine intelligent interaction, industrial robots, intelligent logistics management and other technologies and equipment in the production process, and promoting the simulation optimization, digital control, real-time monitoring of state information and adaptive control of manufacturing process. Semi-trailer industry from the traditional industry to the high-end, promote the coordinated development of large enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises, further optimize the layout of the manufacturing industry.

flatbed semitrailer

(2) The development of the transportation industry promotes the continuous upgrading of the semitrailer

With the development of national economy, China's transportation industry is gradually promoting the process of industrial upgrading. The transport vehicle is in line with the development of the industry and is undergoing synchronous updating and iteration. From 2016 to 2019, China's semi-trailers have been replaced in the field of professional transportation. At present, the vehicles exceeding the regulations in domestic long-distance road transportation market will gradually withdraw from the stage of history after the end of service. Under the requirements of the new regulations, the large stock of 17.5 meters flatbed semitrailers and extra-long fence semitrailers in the market will be replaced by compliant van trucks and drop side wall semitrailers one after another.

fence trailer

(3) Jilting and hanging transportation mode is the trend of industry development

Jilting and hanging transport is a typical application form of semi-trailer in transportation industry. Swing and hanging transport is a special logistics organization mode which can be realized by the separation of semi-trailer and tractor. Specifically refers to the semi-trailer tractor in accordance with the predetermined plan, in the predetermined location of the original trailer, and then hang up the designated trailer to continue to run the mode. Sling transport has obvious efficiency advantages, but at the same time it has a higher threshold of use. Trailers need to be equipped with smart connected terminals to allow fleet managers to monitor and dispatch through a telemetry platform to process data from all vehicles in a more efficient manner. Therefore, the low degree of intelligent interconnection of trailers restricts the promotion of the drop-off mode in China to a certain extent.

van truck

(4) Project transportation vehicles tend to be compliant

Engineering transportation vehicles play an important role in urban construction in China. However, road damage and environmental pollution caused by vehicles also have a great negative impact on urban environment and urban life. According to the supervision policy of engineering transport vehicles, in the future,lightweight, durable concrete mixer, muck truck will be sought after by the market. Vehicle manufacturing enterprises will use more lightweight materials, such as high-strength wear-resistant steel and aluminum alloy, to reduce the weight of the vehicle and give more carrying space.

concrete mixer

(5) The trend of operational leasing and sharing

In recent years, with the rapid development of logistics industry, the market competition environment is becoming increasingly fierce, which urges logistics enterprises to invest more resources in market development and business operation. Semi-trailer leasing and sharing can effectively reduce the capital investment of logistics companies and respond to the demand pulse. Referring to the development trajectory of mature international markets, the semi-trailer rental market has medium - and long-term growth space.

(6) Cold-chain transport vehicles tend to be compliant

The upgrade of China's transport industry will also be reflected in the degree of specialization of transport equipment, the concept of "special car" is gradually accepted by the market. Specifically, the rising demand for medicines and fresh food will actively pull the demand for refrigerated semi-trailers.

howo tractor

(7) New technology promotes the development of cold vehicles

New energy refrigerated vehicles can be equipped with suitable compartment configuration according to the different needs of users. There are frozen, refrigerated and standard models. Different models can meet the needs of different goods distribution.

(8) Intelligent interconnection of logistics vehicles

Semi-trailer, special purpose vehicle intelligent interconnection is the trend. By implanting a variety of sensors and mobile Internet terminal devices, using Internet of things technology and mobile Internet technology, the functional interconnection and upgrading of semi-trailers and special vehicles can be realized.

2 axle flatbed trailer

If the semi-trailer industry wants to develop further, it is necessary to solve some existing problems in time and improve some existing drawbacks of the semi-trailer industry. Although, the semi-trailer industry development status is not optimistic, but the semi-trailer industry after a long time of development, after all, there is a certain foundation. If you want to develop further, only in the current state, the courage to innovate, conform to the development of society and consumer demand, to achieve new breakthroughs.