Crossland Tankers is a company which originally arose from the need to service farm equipment; it has now returned to its roots with its latest product, a slurry transport tanker built for hauling the material by HGV rather than farm tractor.

It was the need to move pig slurry which first got the McKeefry family into the tanker business. At the time it was running a piggery at Swatragh, Co. Derry/Londonderry, and there was the need to remove the slurry and bring in whey as a feed.

It was a considerable business and as the tanker fleet grew, it started its own tanker repair workshop which then started to take in work from elsewhere, and so the new company took form while the pigs faded from the story.

A tanker a day

Since those early days, Crossland Tankers, named after the townland where it is based, has grown to the extent that it also has a factory in Blackburn, Lancashire, and produces around 220-250 truck-mounted tanks and tanker trailers per year, around one every working day.

Co Londonderry tanker factory — Stephen McFerran, sales manager and Jessica McKee design engineer, were both heavily involved in creating the new tanker

This is quite some achievement and the success continues with the lead time being around a year such is the demand for its product.

It is worth noting that the waiting list is not due to the disruption of the past few years, for the company buys in it components well in advance.

Many farmers will already be familiar with Crossland tankers as they supply a large number of milk collection tanks both in Ireland and in the UK, and to their already extensive range they have recently added a 6,600gal (30,000L) truck hauled nurse tank.

Crossland tankers range — Crossland Tankers now offers a range of tankers for many different uses

The idea of a nurse tank is nothing new, and there are similar products already on the market, but what Crossland Tankers has done is bring its expertise in tanker construction to the table to offer a unit which it feels out-performs the competition.

Crossland tankers slurry logistics — The new trailer is designed to empty slurry tanks and take it to the field for spreading by farm tractor

The decision to bring the company full circle and start producing slurry handling equipment came as it was realised that many larger farms were running HGV tractor units as part of their vehicle fleet.

Professional option

With this more professional approach to farm logistics, the production of a road orientated nurse tank, rather than high speed agricultural trailer, becomes a logical progression in the evolution of farm machinery.

One of the main advantages of going down this route is efficiency.

Tankers designed for the field have big bulbous tyres running at relatively low pressures; a road trailer tyre is be a lot more rigid and is designed to reduce running costs on the road where low ground pressure is not a prerequisite.

Trailer bogie unit — The tanker bogies are built to tight tolerances, resulting in an easy running unit which can be set in motion with a gentle push of the hand

Even at more than 500hp, an HGV tractor unit weighs around 7-8t, an equivalent agricultural tractor may weigh in at twice that, meaning that payload is reduced or the farmer is having to needlessly haul 7t of metal around by using a tool designed for the field.

The only modification required to an HGV tractor unit to work the tank is the fitting of a hydraulic power take-off (PTO), a straightforward item that is unlikely to break the bank.

Material choice

When considering the basic design of the the tanker it was decided to construct it of mild steel, and this immediately posed a huge manufacturing problem as the company’s regular tanks are all of stainless steel.

Tank shells blackburn — The basic tank shell is rolled and welded at the company’s Blackburn factory

Mild steel, with carbon as its alloying agent is quite different to work with than stainless steel which contains chromium instead.

This results in a material that has different properties when it comes to bending and shaping, thus the tooling needs to be reset to accommodate these differences.

Thankfully, in Blackburn, where all the rolling of the tank shells is performed, they had a back-up plate roller and this was pressed into service to produce the basic cylinder from 5mm sheet, which is capped by dish ends of 6mm plate.

Simplicity of control

Although this first running prototype is of mild, untreated steel, it is intended that both galvanised and stainless steel options will be available in future,

The tank might be of mild steel but working with stainless is the company’s chief competence so all the pipework and fittings are of that material.

Stainless steel pipework on Crossland Tanker — The tank may be of mild steel but the pipes, valves and fittings are of stainless or brass

The operation has been kept as simple as possible; there is a single Vogelsang positive displacement pump which can run in either direction at any speed.

This can draw up from low level tanks or fill vacuum tankers in the field.

There is a single lever which operates its speed and direction and the valves are manually operated, keeping it robust and reliable.

Single lever control — The single lever controls both pump speed and direction to allow filling, emptying and circulation

The central greasing system is also kept as a manual task as experience has shown that automated systems can be temperamental and drivers are quite happy to get the grease gun out while waiting for a tanker to fill.

From a safety perspective it must be borne in mind that this is not a pressure vessel, so filling and emptying is done entirely by pump, whether on the trailer itself or by a ground based unit.

Any excess pressure caused by fermentation is allowed to blow off by a vent valve on the roof.

Crossland tankers slurry handling — The rear frame is galvanised and is easily dismountable if needing to be replaced

Working at night is facilitated by scenery lights at the side and rear, along with other strategically placed work lights, all of which create a well illuminated environment for the operator to work in.

Crossland Tankers comes full circle

Logistics and materials handling has always been a large part of farming, improving the efficiency of these operations through the use of equipment specifically designed for the task, rather than pressing into service a tractor made for another set of tasks entirely, would appear a sensible way forward.

Slurry tanker HGV — Built to full EU specifications as a road trailer, the new tanker will help reduce the cost of slurry handling

The new nurse tanker is to be given its public debut at the Road Transport Expo, which is being held at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, UK from June 28-30.

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