How not to set a vessel down.

It seems to have been secured to the trailer pretty good... Is that what they call an over side load?

 

Alla malley

 

IDK, tough call. Where is the smoke coming from? I've never pulled anything like that, but, and someone may correct me, I think when the driver began backing up, it put stress on the trailer, and it kind of bent in the middle. I don't think you can back up with a unit like that. Anybody?

 

Well having owned a 13 axle and also pulling a steerable, yes you can back them up.
but looking at the brief video, it looks like several factors played into this issue.
First it appears the load was leaning to the left.
Then the slope of the road going left played a big factor.
When they tried to back it, yes you can try and turn the rear axles, but it is hard on the system at a standstill
Then it leaned just a little to much and gravity took over.
Like I posted prior, I would of just set the trl. down on the road and coned it off and tried to get the problem fix right there.
Yes I believe they were trying to be safe and not block the road, but there are times that makes matters worse.

 

It seems to me the rear trailer was not rolling freely and the driver did not realize or have this communicated to him/her.
Because of the lean it started to twist the rear goose neck and tilt the load even more the more he pushed back.

 

The tank was loaded wrong. If you've ever hauled a huge tank or a boiler or anything like that you know what I am about to say. It has the same concept of loading a coil on a flat deck...all the securement in the world isn't going to stop a heavy coil from shifting. You have to cradle the coil off the deck with coil racks and dunnage. For a tank that big, you should build a big cradle setup to keep the bottom of the tank off the deck.

 

I pulled a 50 ft tank preloaded from Laredo to the Baltimore airport. It was. 11 ft in diameter. Wasn't heavy, just big. They loaded the thing on the deck and nailed these wooden chocks down to the deck. There was nothing I could do to keep that thing from swaying. It worked the chocks out and then it really began to sway. I stopped in Houston, and had one end lifted by a big forklift. I sat my coil racks and dunnage underneath the ends, and re-secured the load. No more problems with shifting.

The next problem came on that loop around DC. Whoever stretched the trailer didn't run the lines correctly, and one of the lines got a hole rubbed in it. I had to do a brake check, and lost the trailer brakes. Thankfully, there was a wide shoulder. Called the Jesup TA and asked them to send the skinniest tech they had to repair the air line. I pulled into the Maryland scale after 10pm, and found a place on the on ramp to park.

Anyway, without a cradle lifting the tank off the deck, a load like that will shift so easily.