Design Quest

ReturnHauler has deep roots in road tanker design, development, and operational testing.

MD Peter Bennetto first committed to cutting CO2 in his own operations in the 1980’s.

At that time, there was dawning awareness of the effects of CO2 on climate, coming off a time where it was less studied, less quantified and less front-of-mind.

Forty years later, the case to cut CO2 in the logistics industry has become a laser-sharp and has become a highly attainable quest.

Pertinently, it is also a high priority now for responsible road tanker operators Worldwide.

ReturnHauler and Bennetto with patented designs, have been among the role players developing road tanker designs over the past 40 years in the CDR (Carbon Dioxide Removal) space.

The ReturnHauler dual-haul design evolution can be traced back through eight design and road testing phases from the 1980’s, with each phase providing learnings and driving improvements.

Phase 1

The first dual-haul tanker trialed by Bennetto, used Dunlop 4-ply rubber bags hauling bulk liquids on a 400 km route, from a chemical plant in South Africa to a paper mill.

The liquid load was Sodium Chloride BP (Salt) Solution used to bleach wood pulp at the mill. Once the liquid load was offloaded; and after bags were rolled up and stowed; the vehicles were loaded with Bleached Paper Pulp at the same mill, to do the 400 km ‘return haul’ back to the source of the route.

A sliding curtain sider system was added to the trailer.

In this way, both legs on this transport route were fully utilized, and the diesel burnt on the
800 km round trip was shared by the two consignments – minimizing carbon emissions.

Bennetto harvested some learnings from the unideal rubber bag system in the 1980’s. There were limitations to the range of products that could be transported in the rubber bags.

CO2 Suppression	Tank	Dry Cargo Handling	Overall Score
5 / 5	1 / 5	4 / 5	10 / 15

Phase 2

To be able to transport fuels, Bennetto’s next design was the all-aluminium ‘DualHauler’ in the 1990’s.

DualHauler was a fuel tanker, that could also transport various dry freight ‘return hauls’ on decks above the tanks.

CO2 Suppression	Tank	Suitability for Freight	Overall Score
5 / 5	5 / 5	1 / 5	11 / 15

Phase 3

Then with changes made to European ADR standards in the 2000’s, new dangerous goods tankers were required to have prescribed radii.

By 2010, Bennetto filed several novel and inventive national patents, for vehicles that could raise their ADR-compliant tanks – with the new ADR-prescribed radii - to load cargo under these tanks.

CO2 Suppression	Tank	Suitability for Freight	Overall Score
5 / 5	4 / 5	3 / 5	12 / 15

Phase 4

Then Bennetto was asked to design a dual-purpose tanker for Total which was commissioned in 2017 to haul Total’s diesel from South Africa to mines in Zambia .

This was a 2 600 km one-way route.

After offloading diesel, Copper Cathode was then loaded under the empty tanks, and was transported from the Zambian mines back to ports in South Africa for export to overseas clients.

CO2 Suppression	Tank	Suitability for Freight	Overall Score
5 / 5	5 / 5	3 / 5	13 / 15

Phase 5

Awoken to the virtues of composite tanks at visits to the NTTC Tank Truck Expo in the US in 2015 and in 2016, Bennetto took on the challenge of designing the first composite road tankers in Africa for Parmalat in 2017.

These units were ‘fixed-tank units’, and were not ‘dual-haul units’ but it was a start, and the vehicles were amazingly light and were less diesel-hungry.

Compared to their stainless steel competitors, these ‘fixed-tank’ composite tankers provided a 3 000 kg payload benefit on a semi-and-pup combination; and a 2 200 kg payload benefit on a tridem semi.

With the lighter tare mass, fuel consumption was reduced by 8 % to 10 % depending on the route being run. So these vehicles made some contribution to arresting global warming.

CO2 Suppression	Tank	Suitability for Freight	Overall Score
1 / 5	5 / 5	0 / 5	6 / 15

Phase 6

Then in 2021, Bennetto was approached to build his patented composite food-grade dual-haul vehicles for a multi-national beverage company, for their operations in Africa. These units haul wine and juice one-way and FMCG pallets on the return haul on a 3 000 km round trip.

Operational testing of these ReturnHauler vehicles started in January 2023.

One design limitation on the vehicle was the maximum pallet height under the tanks of 1 400 mm for the ‘return haul.’

CO2 Suppression	Tank	Suitability for Freight	Overall Score
5 / 5	5 / 5	4 / 5	14 / 15

Phase 7

For complete flexibility in operations, the vehicle ideally needed to accommodate the full range of FMCG pallets sizes up to 1 650 mm, leading to truck and trailer units being currently built on lower profile tyres to accommodate these taller pallets.

CO2 Suppression	Tank	Suitability for Freight	Overall Score
5 / 5	5 / 5	5 / 5	15 / 15

Phase 8

With composite tankers now in his wheelhouse , Bennetto was asked to design a dangerous goods vehicle by a multinational logistics operator.

The vehicle was 1 600 kg lighter than its stainless steel counterparts.

This dangerous goods tanker does not score high on the CO2 suppression index, as it is not configured for return hauls – although it can be configured for ‘return hauls’ in future builds on routes that have the return hauls. This said the vehicle does compare favorably to the traditional stainless steel tankers in a number of ways.

Comparable stainless steel tankers typically weigh1 600 kg more. Stainless steel tankers are prone to corrosion from corrosive chemicals like hydrochloric acid and caustic lye. Stainless steel tankers are subject to metal fatigue and often need replacing after 10 or 15 years. Stainless steel tankers require rubber lining for certain materials that composite tankers can cope with.

Composite tankers have that demonstrably longer life span as shown in the US on composite tankers that have been in operation for as much as 40 years.

CO2 Suppression	Tank	Suitability for Freight	Overall Score
1 / 5	5 / 5	0 / 5	6 / 15