Trucking Milestones: 1982 – a 2632/6×4 transports liquid aluminium

It transports hot goods every day, clocking up 140.000 kilometres every year: Montan-Transport-Gesellschaft Duisburg's Mercedes‑Benz heavy-duty 2632/6×4 truck with semi-trailer takes just three and a half hours to sprint along the motorway from the Olsberg metal plant in Essen to Kassel. The reason for all the hurry: the cargo. On board the truck are four large crucibles, each containing some kind of molten metal, which is mostly 850 degrees Celsius-hot liquid aluminium. This cools down by 20 degrees Celsius per hour and, once it hits 570 degrees Celsius, would turn back into scrap metal.

This must be prevented from happening at all costs. After all, the molten metal that the 2632 is carrying is valuable stuff: it's supplied to metal processing plants that don't have their own furnaces. The aluminium is transferred straight from the remelting furnace in Essen and into the crucibles. These have a capacity of 4.100 to 4.400 kilograms and are hermetically sealed immediately after filling. A travelling crane transports them to the truck, which is already ready and waiting to receive its cargo. When it's fully loaded, it sets off straight away.