THUNDER BAY — A locally developed and manufactured logging trailer promises to make it more efficient to get timber from the forest to the mill.
LBC Contracting, owned by brothers Derrick and Paul Legros, holds the patent for a five-axle hinged trailer that can carry an average of five to seven more metric tons of logs than other models.
A prototype was tested at the former Abitibi paper mill on the Mission River, and was also evaluated long-term in real-world conditions by a forest products company.
Derrick Legros, president of LBC, said government inspectors spent four days putting the trailer "through all of the testing for turning and for stress on the load cables, and the design of the chassis and all that stuff. It passed everything with flying colours."
He said that in service in the bush with a company in the Hearst area, "it's proven itself to be a very viable trailer, and increased their bottom line at the end of the day."
Existing four-axle trailers have a capacity of 36 to 38 metric tons, but LBC's model can carry a payload of 42 metric tons.
"The mills and owner/operators are looking to increase their volume." Legros said.
The new trailers will be manufactured under licence by Twin City Industrial at its facility in Rosslyn, just outside Thunder Bay.
"The first one is going out to Mooseland Contracting. They've already purchased the first one that we're building, and there's interest from other companies."
The initial focus in marketing will be Northern and northwestern Ontario, but Legros said he hopes to find customers right across the country.
"LBC will be doing the marketing, and we're also connecting up here with the Kenworth truck sales here in Thunder Bay to do the selling.... With the extra payload from a four-axle trailer to the five-axle, it will actually pay for itself within four years."
The average selling price for the trailer will be about $150,000.
Legros said there are economic spinoffs around the city, because his company is working with several other firms in the community.
"We're working with Coastal Steel, the truck places, the manufacturing facility here; they're looking to ramp up. We also buy all our parts and everything all around town. It will create jobs, even with the tire shops and everything."
LBC has already won a name for itself with a patented air-ride suspension system for RVs, ambulances, buses and personal and commercial light trucks.
