Page Trucking’s owner-operators and its custom frameless-dump trailer spec

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Weedsport, N.Y.-based bulk hauling oufit Page Trucking specializes in agriculture, industrial hauling and environmental cleanup. The company can move any bulk commodity in North America from its several U.S. locations. Dan Titus, President, attributes the fleet’s success to its dedicated owner-operators, combined with a diverse, well-maintained fleet of equipment, including custom trailers for its customers’ hauling needs.

The vast majority of Page Trucking’s freight moves behind the tractors of leased owner-operators like this sharp KW.The vast majority of Page Trucking’s freight moves behind the tractors of leased owner-operators like this sharp KW.

“From the raw materials through the byproducts, we haul the entire supply chain for our customers,” Titus says. Customers include the largest producers in the lead, steel and aluminum industries. The company hauls raw materials in for production, then pulls the finished product out and completes the cycle by moving byproducts through recycling and final landfill or processing.

The bulk hauler’s unique applications require custom-spec’d trailers — they’ve worked with East Manufacturing over the years to build and refine a dump trailer engineered with reinforced flooring, specifically configured for multiple uses and with additional stiffness added to side walls. At once, the aluminum trailers remain lightweight, providing a balance between the need for strength/durability and relatively low weight to maximize payloads.

The specially-designed frameless dump trailer, typically 39 feet long with five-foot-tall side walls, uses high-quality aluminum, making for good resale value and keeping the company’s trailers looking sharp through a long service life.The specially-designed frameless dump trailer, typically 39 feet long with five-foot-tall side walls, uses high-quality aluminum, making for good resale value and keeping the company’s trailers looking sharp through a long service life.

Page Trucking was established in 1977 on the family farm by Dan Titus’ father, Keith, who designed the original dump trailer with East. After his father’s death in 1999, his mother, Debbie, kept the fleet afloat through an economic downturn. She understood the value of the business and put everything on the line, which allowed Titus and his sister, Piper, to purchase the fleet in 2012. Coming from seven generations of farmers, Dan Titus and Piper refine the trailer spec hand-in-hand with East. “Technology has improved over the years but the base concept still remains strong,” added Titus.

East’s Genesis side-wall technology, for instance, today makes for a trailer that’s easier to clean and that doesn’t show dents from the inside.

Titus credits Page’s leased owner-operators with providing feedback to improve their unique dump trailer. “Our guys,” he says, 9 in 10 of whom are owner-operators, “are dedicated to providing feedback from the field when it can improve their jobs and our fleet.” With typical annual orders between 20 to 50 trailers, Page Trucking applies that feedback to new-generation equipment.

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“East understands that every trailer is important to us,” says Titus. “They deliver great quality” in the necessary time frame, “whether they’re producing one trailer or 100.”

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