What is the meaning of Articulated Truck?

An articulated truck is a heavy goods vehicle made up of two parts: a tractor unit that provides the engine and cab, and a semi-trailer that carries the load. The two are joined by a fifth-wheel coupling that lets the combination pivot, which is where the name "articulated" comes from.

How an articulated truck is built

Because the trailer pivots on the coupling, an articulated truck is more manoeuvrable than a rigid truck of the same length, and the trailer can be uncoupled and swapped while the tractor keeps working. This flexibility makes articulated trucks the standard choice for long-distance freight across Europe.

Common trailer types include curtain-siders, box trailers, refrigerated trailers and low-loaders for heavy or oversized cargo. A typical European articulated combination has five or six axles and a maximum permitted gross weight of around 40 tonnes.

Articulated truck vs other truck types

An articulated truck differs from a rigid heavy goods vehicle, where body and cab share one chassis, and from a jumbo truck, which pairs a rigid motor vehicle with a drawbar trailer for extra loading volume.

Planning routes for articulated trucks

Their length and weight mean articulated trucks cannot follow car routes: low bridges, tight turns and weight-restricted roads all have to be planned around. In the Planner Module from IMPARGO, the vehicle profile (length, axles, weight) produces a truck-legal route with per-country toll costs and the full tour cost before the trip starts.