Combilift’s Container Slip-Sheet loads in minutes.

It’s hard to describe Combilift’s Container Slip-Sheet (Combi-CSS) without analogies. Imagine you’re putting a tray of pies in the oven and pull out the oven rack to guide them in smoothly rather than reach in and risk damaging a pie or your arm. It’s a bit like that except with huge container loads.

The Combi-CSS is quicker and safer than traditional methods for loading containers (particularly long ones) using a combination of forklifts and manual labour. First unveiled during Combilift’s 20th anniversary last year, the Combi-CSS is now in serial production.

Following the launch of the Combilift Straddle Carrier a few years ago, feedback from customers in the containerisation sector prompted Combilift to investigate loading and unloading procedures. The result is the patented Combi-CSS; a low, free-standing platform with a dual-directional motor-driven pulling mechanism, on which a Hardox 500 steel sheet rests.

The platform has a capacity of 30 tonnes and allows a full load of product to be prepared on the sheet, where access is easy and orders can be checked or changes made up till the last minute.

Once ready, the sheet is lifted by four hydraulic cylinders underneath moving in sequence. Hydraulic pins on the ends of the cylinders move up, fitting into holes cut into the sheet to secure it, while the cylinders pull the sheet forward into the container that has been positioned behind the platform. A 20’ container can be loaded – or unloaded – in just three minutes (six minutes for a 40’ container), ensuring safe loading without any risk of product damage.

When the goods are fully loaded within the container, a hydraulic rear barrier gate, fixed to the end of the platform, swings across the container opening and is locked in place across the entire width of the platform. This holds the material within the container while the metal sheet is slipped out from underneath it, hence the name.

Combilift managing director Martin McVicar said: “I am confident that companies dealing with containers will embrace this new product, as they did the Straddle Carrier, due to the improvements it offers in terms of safety, speed and efficiency.”

For details, visit www.combilift.com or watch a video of the Combi-CSS at https://youtu.be/Rjp0I7ZtPis