Folding Tank

Good idea, however, the cure is worse then the problem.

It is not very practical for the following reasons:

1. A collapsible or folding tank would be

• far more expensive
• far more likely to develop a leak (safety)
• take both time and equipment resources to collapse and reform
• more likely to have equipment problems
• the extra resources would more then negate any small savings in fuel consumption.

2. The Safest and most practical engineered item is usually the simplest design with the least moving parts.

3. Trucking is inefficient unless it is used in both directions. It is necessary in short distances. For longer distances or large quantities it would be better to use trains, pipelines, or other form of transport.

Agree with most of your points, but for the first part of point 3), I think the OP was suggesting turning the tanker into a flatbed when the tank was collapsed (therefore able to carry other freight on the return trip).

I once worked with the owner of a small trucking firm that would haul milk to Florida from Massachusetts than haul orange juice back on the return trip. Since they were both food stuffs it worked, with only the time and expense to clean out the tank between each load. I believe most truckers try to haul both ways but the problem is getting scheduled for loads both ways. There are also some loads which laws won't let you put in the same tank, food and toxic chemicals for instance, no matter how well you "clean" the tank. So the real problem is scheduling all the trucks so no truck ever has goes empty on a long haul. Could a website be developed like an e-Bay site where a shipper could put up for bid a load to be transported and truckers could answer with offers to haul it? I throw that out there for the entrepreneurs.

Good idea. And, a really good database could reduce the total number of product/miles vastly. How often do you see trucks carrying identical cargoes in opposite directions on the same road.

<How often do you see trucks carrying identical cargoes in opposite directions on the same road.>

During the late 1990s, it was common for users of the M25, London's orbital motorway, to see a lorry loaded with concrete pipes going along the anticlockwise carriageway pass a lorry loaded with concrete pipes going in the opposite direction along the clockwise carriageway.

Silly, isn't it?

Could a website be developed like an e-Bay site where a shipper could put up for bid a load to be transported...

Most good truck stops here in the US have a load board screen showing a variety of loads and the broker handling the load.

I've heard of these boards at truck stops or at broker's offices but they are all very local and limited in scope. The whole process should be a lot more efficient if all these local "boards" were pulled together and made more easily available. All the work of course comes with trying to pull all the data together on a continuous basis. But e_Bay does something very similar so it should be possible.

How about an inflatable or ballon-like tank? As you fill it, it expands and, as you drain it, it deflates. You'll need to work out the material to use but it sounds good to me.

^{If you disagree, be gentle...}

How about shipping container with four or five balloons dividing the container volume.This may make task little easy.Container body giving stability by arresting the dancing balloons.

ratnagiri

Hello Chaps

I remember seeing these bladders years ago in Australia on the back of semi trailers carrying wine from fields to production lines.

This company has a pretty good looking range:

http://www.seatrans.co.za/

Jeez! Just when you think that you've come up with a new invention, you learn that someone's already done it .

I believe that you would find that since you must still move the truck the same distance, and the frontal area of the tractor unit remains the same, any fuel.savings would be negligable.