Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Steelbro and what exactly are Sidelifters?
Steelbro is a leader in the global market for Sidelifters, or self-loading container handling trailer vehicles. Sidelifters are also known as Sideloader, Swinglift and Self-loading container trailer.
A Sidelifter is a purpose built semi-trailer on which, a specially designed set of cranes are mounted, to lift and transport ISO shipping containers of various types, sizes and weights, up to 45’ and 40 tonnes. Sidelifter cranes can also be mounted on a truck deck for handling 20’containers.
Most Sidelifters can transfer containers to other trailers and trucks. Many are engineered to also stack containers two high on the ground.
Steelbro have over 125 years of manufacturing success. Based in Christchurch, New Zealand, we have produced innovative and imaginative solutions for the transport industry since 1878. The company has evolved into one of the world's most well respected, and long-lived, heavy transport engineering enterprises.
Steelbro has forged an international reputation for its design innovation and excellent workmanship.
Who uses Sidelifters and why?
Customers from rail forwarders to trucking fleet operators and logistics companies are realising the practical and economic advantages of Sidelifter technology.
Sidelifters deliver a range of options. Operators have the ability to off load and pick up fully loaded containers, without the need to wait for other machinery to arrive or become available. This eliminates the cost associated with leaving trailers on-site and increases the opportunities for the possible number of pickup and drop offs in each cycle.
Containers can also be placed anywhere the Sidelifter unit can access, which eliminates the need for expensive ground preparation such as required for reachstacker operation.
The Sidelifter can work in conjunction with companion vehicles, improving standard container trailer utilisation and reducing total fleet sizes. Suitably specified Sidelifters can transfer containers on or off rail wagons.
Sidelifter’s can do the rail transfer operation, and then they can double stack in adjoining depots and also shuttle containers to and from nearby exporters and importers; handling all operations without the need for reachstackers or other equipment investments. This is particularly useful in remote areas or situations where there is little infrastructure, exactly the type of areas that can benefit most from inter-modal containerisation.
When did you start exporting?
Steelbro started exporting to Australia in 1979, then expanded to the Pacific and Caribbean Islands and further a field shortly after. The Steelbro Sidelifter is now the world’s best-selling self-loading trailer system, exported to over 100 countries. Steelbro are now also sold in several International markets, mainly in Europe, Africa, Middle East, South East Asia, North and South American countries.
What are the future prospects for Sidelifter technology?
The worldwide growth in container transportation is ongoing. This growth is putting strain on traditional cargo hubs and road transport networks in many developed countries - particularly in Europe and North America, where congestion and associated environmental concerns are ever-increasing. The Sidelifter has been identified as an important inter-modal solution for moving containers off the road onto short-haul rail systems.

The international trend towards door-to-door containerised shipments of bulk cargoes such as grains and fruit and the need to avoid cross-pollination of crop diseases is also opening up new areas for Sidelifter applications.

Increasingly shipping lines and domestic market container service providers are seeing the benefits of giving their small and medium sized customers the opportunity of door delivered, “on the ground” solutions. Rail network operators are seeing that by strategically adding Sidelifters to their systems, they can provide a through handling, cost effective capability, to compete with the overburdened highways.

The growing focus on Occupational health and Safety in the workplace has also highlighted a need for controlled workplace safety. Steelbro has developed a load monitoring system SMARTlift, as a platform for operators to work within safer parameters thus minimising the risk of workplace incidence.