Stoughton Returns to Reefer Market With PureBlue Trailer
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.
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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.
Eicher by Joseph Terry/Transport Topics
“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.
