Stoughton Returns to Reefer Market With PureBlue Trailer

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Transport Topics  /  September 26, 2017

ATLANTA — Stoughton Trailers has added a refrigerated model to its lineup, its first entry into the segment in years and a move that the company said completes its lineup.

“This is a product that fills out our portfolio,” Ted Leroy, a product manager with Stoughton, said during a press conference at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show here to introduce the PureBlue refrigerated trailer.

The reefer will join the company’s lineup of dry van, grain, livestock and intermodal trailers when it hits the market in the first quarter of 2018, the company said.

The PureBlue is the company’s first foray into the refrigerated trailer market since 1999, the year that a joint venture with Alcoa on a reefer unit concluded. Stoughton believes that a combination of corporate strategy and business conditions make now an excellent time for it to re-enter the refrigerated market.

“It is the right time for Stoughton to grow,” said Todd Eicher, director of engineering for Stoughton’s diversified trailer products division. “Stoughton has a very strong, well thought-out growth agenda, and fits right into it. The market segment is strong, and this is a good time to enter into it. That doesn’t mean that there’s not strong competition, but the market is strong, so we feel that it’s right.”

Leroy noted that the new trailer gives Stoughton an opportunity to offer “a full fleet” to customers who operate both dry van and refrigerated trailers.

The PureBlue is the result of two years of development, and has features that Stoughton said sets it apart in the marketplace. They include a triple wiper seal door gasket designed to prevent water intrusion and minimize air loss, and platen foamed sides and roof to ensure that the trailer is fully insulated 360 degrees to prevent voids or uneven areas to further increase thermal efficiency, it said. Bonded side posts reduce the number of holes in the sidewalls to further aid in preventing moisture intrusion, and can improve the surface for installing trailer graphics.

The trailer also features an aluminum scuff and integral composite scuff liner to help prevent damage during loading and unloading, the company said.

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Stoughton unveils PureBlue refrigerated trailer

Sean Kilcarr, Fleet Owner  /  September 27, 2017

New model will be available next year sometime in the beginning of the first quarter.

ATLANTA. As part of a longer-term strategic growth initiative, Stoughton Trailers is rolling out a new refrigerated trailer model dubbed “PureBlue” to broaden its product line so it can make inroads with larger customers.

“Large customers have mixed fleets of dry van and refrigerated trailers; you can’t bid for that business unless you have both. The two are tied together,” Ted Leroy, product manager for Stoughton, explained to Fleet Owner.

Todd Eicher, Stoughton’s director of engineering, noted that PureBlue is designed to be a lightweight reefer trailer that doesn’t sacrifice strength while delivering more thermal efficiency and safety than competitive models currently on the road today.

“Better thermal efficiency means less run time is required for the reefer unit; that saves fuel and thus cost,” he said. “But the biggest issue is to build a lightweight trailer with that efficiency within a design customers are used to; one that they will know how to repair with their current skills sets.”

Eicher added that key features of the company’s new PureBlue refrigerated trailer include:

• An aluminum scuff and integral composite scuff liner to help prevent damage during loading and unloading;

• A sidewall and scuff designed with no rivets to prevent snags and tear outs.

• A heavy-duty duct floor designed with a knurled edge top surface for skid resistance. “There is no wood in this trailer,” Eicher stressed. “That helps extend its longevity.”

• The floor’s 5.25-inch extruded aluminum cross members in the bay area provide a strong yet lightweight floor substructure, with steel cross members an available option.

• The composite rear door is built with a triple wiper seal gasket to prevent water intrusion and minimize air loss to protect the interior of the trailer and cargo from the elements.

• The platen foamed sides and roof ensure that the trailer is fully insulated in 360 degrees with no voids or uneven areas to further increase its thermal efficiency.

• The bonded side posts in the new refrigerated trailer reduce the number of holes in the sidewalls to further aid in preventing moisture intrusion in addition to improving presentation for graphic applications.

• Like all Stoughton dry van models, PureBlue comes standard with a rear underride guard resists compartmental intrusion of an automobile when the location of impact is at 30% to 100% overlap of the width of the car to the guard – at no additional cost or weight.

Stoughton added that it is planning to roll out a multi-temperature trailer model sometime in 2019.

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Stoughton Adds PureBlue Refrigerated Trailer to Product Lineup

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT)  /  September 27, 2017

ATLANTA — Stoughton Trailers, as part of its effort to offer a complete product line to customers, introduced a refrigerated trailer line – PureBlue.

This gives Stoughton a full line of trailers, including dry van, grain, livestock, intermodal chassis, and now refrigerated trailer that debuted at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show.

The company spent two years developing the trailer, using proven components, customer input, and thorough testing,

Stoughton officials told reporters that PureBlue's innovative design and attention to detail provide lightweight trailers without sacrificing strength, with features that help maintain more consistent temperatures, reduce maintenance, and improve safety.

An aluminum scuff and integral composite scuff liner help prevent damage while loading and unloading the trailer. The sidewall and scuff have no rivets that loads can snag and tear out.

Stoughton is providing a heavy-duty non-skid duct floor as the preferred floor in the new refrigerated trailer. This durable floor provides optimum support to loads even in high-use areas. The fully enclosed floor design has a knurled edge top surface for skid resistance. There is no wood in the entire structure, which extends the life of the trailer.

Stoughton offers several additional optional floors. The 5.25-inch extruded aluminum cross members in the bay area provide a strong yet lightweight floor substructure, and steel cross members are an available option.

Stoughton has included several design elements to protect the trailer against air loss and to keep out water.

The platen foamed sides and roof ensure that the trailer is fully insulated in 360 degrees with no voids or uneven areas to further increase its thermal efficiency. In addition, Stoughton designed a composite mounting box for the refrigeration unit to help keep the heat of the reefer’s diesel engine from penetrating into the trailer.

Stoughton’s composite rear door design optimizes thermal efficiency plus it reduces weight, providing a lightweight, strong, thermally efficient rear door. The bonded side posts in the new refrigerated trailer reduce the number of holes in the sidewalls to further aid in preventing moisture intrusion, in addition to offering a smooth side ideal for graphic applications.

Like Stoughton dry van trailers, the PureBlue refrigerated trailer comes standard with the new, stronger, rear underride guard at no additional cost or weight.

This is actually not Stoughton’s first time getting into the refrigerated trailer business, noted company officials in response to a question about why European-technology trailer materials are not used. In the ‘90s, it teamed up with Alcoa for Stoughton Composites, which “was probably the closest product into this market that used European sandwich panels,” says Stoughton’s Todd Eicher, Manager - Product Engineering R&D. “But it was unique in a way that was more difficult for customers to repair because the repair methods were different.”

With the PureBlue, “we’ve purposely endeavored to keep design familiar. So they'll be able to maintain it without having to retrain workforce or be bound to some exotic materials.”

The new Stoughton PureBlue refrigerated trailer will be available in early 2018.

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