Flexible low loader systems for trouble-free construction machinery movement at Faber Bau “Goldhofer loves a challenge and delivers results”

Two low loader semitrailers with wheel recesses, namely a STZ-L 3 A RM and a STZ-L 4 A RM, have gone into service with Faber Bau of Alzey, Germany, for delivering machinery to the company’s construction sites. “The two vehicles, with 3 and 4 axles respectively, feature quick-change cargo deck systems for flexible working and remotely controlled force-steered axles for optimum maneuverability,” says Markus Kasper, head of Mechanical Engineering at Faber Bau.

In the case of the 4-axle semitrailer with a payload of 42 tons, Faber Bau presented Goldhofer’s engineers with a number of challenges. The main requirement was to have a low loader with an extension capability to achieve a loading length of up to 12.80m “The extendable deck is a big advantage for us because we can use it to move big asphalt pavers,” says Kasper, “and not just the usual excavators, wheel loaders, finishers and rollers.”

At the same time, overall length was not to exceed 16.50m so as to avoid the need for transport permits. Markus Kasper explains: “Meeting both these requirements in one and the same vehicle was a real challenge but, in close consultation with our people, Goldhofer’s engineers mastered it brilliantly.” For the tractor for the STZ-L in this special configuration, Faber Bau chose a Scania R 730.

For Markus Kasper, who is responsible for the complete fleet at Faber Bau, the STZ project was not the first occasion for collaboration with Goldhofer. “We know that Goldhofer always does an excellent job in terms of quality and service,” he explains and he adds: “The combination of the two is a huge advantage.” That is a reference to the versatility of the vehicles and the system advantages of the wheel recesses with drive-on covers for carrying wheeled and tracked vehicles.

Faber Bau – an old established company with headquarters in Alzey in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate – is mainly active in the fields of civil engineering and road construction as well as construction engineering, rehabilitation, raw materials and landfill. Since 2010 the company has been a member of the French Eiffage Group, one of Europe’s biggest infrastructure service providers, which reported net sales totaling 13.9 billion euros in 2015 with a headcount of about 64,000 employees. With bases in Dresden, Trebbin, Drebach and Schlierschied, Faber Bau itself achieved net sales amounting to 151 million euros in 2015 with a total of 816 employees.