Sliding Open Top Reveals Blue Sky Thinking

Instead of a normal container roof, an open top container is fitted with a removable tarpaulin, supported by a series of roof bows. Major challenges for container operators are how to easily open and close the roof, and how to avoid losing the removable parts, (the tarpaulin and roof bows) once the cargo has been discharged from the container.

BoxJoin’s concept is for the roof bows and tarpaulin to stay with the container. Instead of the roof bows being secured by pins in the top rail (as on a standard open top), the roof bows on the new Sliding Open Top have rollers at each end, which sit in a track on the inside of the container’s top rail, running the whole length of the unit.

After the rope securing the tarpaulin to the container has been untied, the roof bows and the tarpaulin together can now be pulled along the track either to the front or back of the container, giving access for quick and easy loading and discharging of the cargo. Alternatively, the roof bows can be pulled along the track after the tarpaulin has been pulled back in the same way as on a normal open top