Sidelifter

A sidelifter is a specialised vehicle or semi-trailer used to hoist and transport ISO standard intermodal containers over longer distances.

Sidelifter are known to operate in the following countries or regions. Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and North and South America.

The sidelifter loads and unloads containers via a pair of hydraulic powered cranes mounted at each end of the vehicle chassis. The cranes are designed to lift containers from the ground, from other vehicles including , from railway wagons and directly from stacks on docks or aboard container ships. A standard sidelifter is also able to stack a container at a two containers' height on the ground. If the sidelifter chassis is of 40' length or more, the cranes of the sidelifter can be shifted hydraulically along the sidelifter chassis to be able to pick up either one 20', one 40', or two 20' ISO containers at a time.

As the Sidelifter is suitable for travelling on general roads for large distances and able to quickly load and unload without additional equipment, it is often used for delivering and picking up shipping containers from within a commercial district. Although these can self load, they are more often loaded or unloaded at the port with a straddle carrier or reach stacker.

This equipment has been referred to with a myriad of alternate names. Some of these are:

The sidelifter was invented during the 1960s by Kaspar Klaus who was granted a number of patents for the equipment manufactured by Klaus Transport-systeme GmbH of Germany, with a focus on military operations. The Klaus Sidelifters were heavy and not cost effective for commercial use. Steelbro in New Zealand bought the Klaus Transport business and further developed the Sidelifter, resulting in reduced tare weight and allowing freight companies to legally carry higher payload. It was also developed by Hammar Maskin AB in Sweden. It has since become a commonly used vehicle in intermodal facilities worldwide. The principal alternative to the costly machinery of the sidelifter is the use of swap body containers, which are too light to be stacked but can be unloaded from a truck by means of foldable legs.

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Wikipedia