A Te Puke agricultural contracting company has designed and is manufacturing a new 50 tonne weighbridge for the trucking industry.

Neville Marsh of Neville Marsh Contracting says he designed the weighbridge following repeated requests from clients who had purchased his earlier 30 tonne version. 'I was asked to develop the 50 tonne weighbridge by companies which needed to be able to weigh bigger units,” says Neville who spent two years developing and testing the new unit.

It can cater for tri-axle trucks and longer units than the 30 tonne bridge and can be installed in a permanent position or used as a portable unit. Each platform weighs 2.7 tonne and takes around six weeks to manufacture at the Neville Marsh Contracting Te Puke workshop. The new weighbridges are already in use in Taneatua, Cromwell and the Waikato.

Ron Kilburn of the Mount Maunganui company Accurate Weighing provided and tested the load cells in the weigh bridge which are calibrated and certified for commercial use.

Neville Marsh 30 tonne weighbridges are widely used by trucking companies to ensure their vehicles are not over weight for the road and to provide accurate documentation of the weight of the loads they are carrying for product such as maize and metal which are sold by weight. Council refuge stations also use them to weigh vehicles dumping waste.