Mobicon Flexible Container Handling System

Mobicon - the flexible, safe container handling system

Straddle Carrier/Container Handling Solution

The Mobicon is a patented two-tower Gantry Crane or Straddle Carrier of unique design.  When no container is being carried, the two towers are connected by draw-bars.  When a container is handled, the rear tower carries the rear of the container, and the front tower carries the front of the container.  The container then becomes part of the Straddle Carrier structure.

Unlike forklifts or reach stackers, the weight of the container is evenly spread out over the 4 axles of the Straddle Carrier, resulting in a very low axle weight.

The Mobicon Straddle Carrier can carry containers lengthwise, and a 5 meter laneway is sufficient to transport containers.  The Mobicon can transport containers inside a building or under an awning, as it is only 4 meters high when carrying a container.  It can also load containers on road vehicles, as the lift-height is 1.7 meters.

As the Mobicon Straddle Carrier attaches itself in the side holes of the container corner castings, it can handle all types of containers, including flatbeds, bolsters and half high containers and tank containers.

What is it used for?

There are 3 main ways in which a customer uses a Mobicon Straddle Carrier: Container at height ready to load onto flat bed truck

  1. The only container handler on a site - small sites with 10 to 100 container moves per week:
  • exporters – niche manufacturers, small primary producers
  • importers – niches products
  • small distribution centres 
  1. The primary container handler on a site (often with an empty container forklift) - medium sites with 50 to 200 container moves per week:
  1. A supplementary container handler on a site (supporting one or many heavy container forklifts or reach stackers) - large sites:
  • large transport yards
  • container parks
  • large distribution centres

Who uses a Mobicon?

Mobicon Straddle Carriers are used in a wide variety of industries:

The interesting fact about all these industries is that they were trying to solve the same (or similar) container handling problems – and the Mobicon Straddle Carrier has many benefits.

How is it used and why is it a good solution?

A Mobicon Straddle Carrier customer is trying to solve four broad problems:

  1. Lack of flexibility with their current method of moving containers -
  • Not able to go under low awnings and into warehouses through low doorways.
  • Not able to operate on surfaces that can only handle light or low pressure ground weights.
  • Not able to get containers to the most convenient place to be loaded.

A Mobicon Straddle Carrier can solve these problems due to its low height, light weight and its method of moving containers length ways (not width ways like a fork lift).

  1. The current way of moving containers is seen as not safe –
  • Reach stackers and heavy forklifts have poor visibility when travelling with a container, which is very dangerous for other workers on site.
  • Reach stackers and heavy forklifts can tip over when carrying loaded containers, which is very dangerous.
  • Customers often load containers on the back of a trailer, without the correct safety measures in place, which is a dangerous work practice.

When a Mobicon Straddle Carrier is travelling with a loaded container, 30 cm off the ground, there is excellent visibility and it cannot tip over.  With a Mobicon Straddle Carrier you can always load your containers or container bases on the ground.

  1. Relying on a transport company to provide self loading trailers, or a multiple trailer solution, means that the container owner has no autonomy –
  • Our customers were not able to separate their production/warehousing operations from their transport operation – they totally relied on the transport company.
  • Our customers had no way to independently move empty or full containers around their yards without needing a transport company.
  • Our customers would have to halt production in order to wait for the transport provider to be on site to move containers and trailers around.

With a Mobicon Straddle Carrier our customers can continue their production and have the autonomy to move containers on their site independently.

  1. Current ways of moving containers was not an environmentally friendly solution –
  • Reach stackers and heavy forklifts are high consumers of fuel per container.
  • Reach stackers and heavy forklifts are heavier and use more steel in their manufacturing process, and therefore, have a high carbon footprint.

A Mobicon Straddle Carrier is the most environmentally friendly container handler available.  It uses 20% of the fuel per container of reach stackers and heavy forklifts, and is lighter.

Frequently Asked Questions

View the Mobicon Systems Straddle Carrier/Container Handler frequently asked questions.

Make an Enquiry

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