how much horsepower do I need to haul shipyard containers

Hi Houndstooth, take it from me, I wouldn't have a truck nowadays with less than 500 hp. The mileage isn't that much different, and you are gonna need those ponies to haul those cans. I hauled RR vans and containers out of Chicago for almost 5 years with an old 350 BC Cummins( and later a 400 BC) and I struggled with them. Those things are notoriously heavy, they always "load the wagon", it's just going on the train, right? With chassis and box, you are talking as heavy as an old reefer, and they want to put 46K in in the box, routinely, I was over 80K. Not to mention, a lot of chassis's have old grease style axle hubs and non-radial tires(not to mention old tube type tires, although, they are SLOWLY changing to tubeless)and with those ribs in the box, believe me they pull hard. The pay was ok, I guess, and the rail yards have gotten a lot better, but again, go with the big horse!!

 

a c13 engine is lighter plus 411 gears is too high.

 

When it comes to horsepower, too much is just right.

 

dude, I guess you are looking for hometime but the containers are cheap out of savannah. most times you blow a tire on a chassis and YOU pay for their tire and no you don't get reimbursed, and the dray charges to pulls cans in and out are from 60 to 80 bucks each way, its a racket

 

You not only want at least 500 hp so you can pull them at 90 mph, but also good a/c and a comfortable bunk while you sit on the shoulder and wait for the service truck to show up to replace the 2 tires you scattered for the past mile when they blew out.

 

Hey SHO-TYME, you know, that was my biggest problem with that job, was the tires. I see a lot of the chassis have tubeless now, but still crummy recaps. I heard they ran tube type so guys wouldn't put them on their trucks. Tube tires,,,Jeez, that and paper log books, right out of the '50's.

 

calm down sally it was a joke... kinda

 

The terrain you are running in will be what makes the biggest difference in the size engine you need.
If running in small hills to flat the smaller engine will be better (430-450HP).
It will be lighter and also get better fuel mileage. The bigger engines can get decent fuel mileage if driven right but they will really suck the fuel if you get your foot into it. The smaller engines are more forgiving of bad fuel economy driving habits.

 

Hi blessedman, that's true about small motors, but I drove a Freightliner w/a 500 Detroit, 3:55's, and a 13,and routinely got high 6's, even low 7's sometimes, and had power to spare. Most of my co. jobs, they all had small motors, and we killed them, with our foots to the floor all day. Tried explaining to the boss, hey, if you gave us a decent motor, we wouldn't be trashing these things all day, but their reasoning was, big motor, more speeding tickets, so we said, fine, go rebuild your crummy motors every 150K. They just didn't get it.

 

You don't "need" very much....just so long as you have the gearing to match the HP. Just a few decades ago 350 hp was the norm. I have pulled 75,000 - 85,000 with a 370 HP M11 Cummins through the hills of PA since 2007. But it has a 13 speed and a 4.33 rear.