How About Them Double 33's?

Got an email today from none other than the founder of Swift, Jerry Moyes. I suppose every other driver got the same one, though.

I hadn't heard about this before, but evidently LTL carriers are pushing for double trailers 33 feet long each. (Right now, double pups are 28' each) Jerry claims the whole rig: tractor + 2 x 33' will be 91 feet of rolling freight & metal. (more weight?)

Yes, write your congressman and all that. A helpful link if you are so inclined: Say NO to 33'

Swift claims "Experience shows that longer double-trailers will force us out of 53s and into double 33s — an over-the-road sleeper rig that is 91-feet long, the equivalent of an eight-story building on wheels. And us 53' drivers will need training for the longer combinations.

Here's a link to the Coalition Against Bigger Trucks: www.cabt.org

The industry has always pushed for longer, heavier trucks. In New York you've already been able to pull 48' doubles on the Thruway (I-90) across the state for years.

Did they specifically mention increasing the weight also?

Like Brett said, they've been discussing this for a while in the industry. With increased capacity, I can only imagine that they'd need to push for higher GVCW ratings. The problem with this is, I can't imagine a LW truck would be able to manage much more than the industry standard of 80,000 lb. as is. Bloomberg just ran an article regarding the topic not long ago, although its a little bare-boned in my opinion.

I don't see how it would FORCE people out of 53' rigs. Heck, Swift ALREADY knows about Rocky Mountain Doubles (48' followed by a 28' trailer). What it will do is allow Fed Ex and the like to haul more freight. However, NON-LTL companies will do just fine, as shippers will still want to load as much freight in ONE trailer as possible.

In addition to 26' combination vehicles, you can see B-trains and these LCVs on the highways of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The operators need special permitting and the drivers need exemplary records and extra training to operate. Oh, Canada has a higher weight limit for CMV as do many US states, so big trucks aren't that uncommon.

I located a PDF copy of the main report: MAP-21 Comprehensive Truck Size and Weight Limits Study by the Federal Highway Administration. (By the way, there's another group, Coalition for Transportation Productivity, that likes the idea of 53' trailers with three axle tandems ("Triandems"?) They propose a weight limit if 91,000 in 53 feet.)

@Brett: I think it's not set yet, but the weight may go up to 91k or even 97k per combination.

@Armyman: It's a function of economics. The report studied many different combinations that the Trucking industry would move to for competition and economic reasons. The biggest move, according to the MAP-21 report would be to the 3-axle 53' with 91,000 pound weight limit. The second would be the 33' doubles , either 91k or 97k limit.

I see the double 53' configuration frequently, and those 53' tridem trailers every day. I'll try and keep note when I drive near one and post a dash cam video of there's interest. I suspect most folks have seen these setups before, but you never know.

Michael, The illustrations I used came from Canadian pages! The larger combinations are more common in Canada. Remember the issue is about two 53' trailers together - a Canadian Turnpike Double. We don't get those south of the Border.

Then there's Michigan trucks:

Michael, The illustrations I used came from Canadian pages! The larger combinations are more common in Canada. Remember the issue is about two 53' trailers together - a Canadian Turnpike Double. We don't get those south of the Border.

Then there's Michigan trucks:

Those Michigan trucks always weirded me out. I called em centipedes.

You see three and four axle trailers all over the place in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Central Oregon Trucking has a crapload of four axle flatbed trailers, Tate and Doug Andrus use a lot of three axle trailers, Haney, Gordon, and Interstate all do a lot of heavy-haul with four axle trucks and trailers, and just about every wood chip trailer in the region has four axles. Just some examples off the top of my head.