Swap body
A swap body is a standardised, detachable freight container that can be moved between trucks and trailers, allowing a vehicle to drop one load and pick up another quickly.
What is a swap body?
A swap body stands on four fold-out support legs: the truck lowers its air suspension, drives out from underneath and leaves the body at the dock, with no crane or forklift needed. This decouples the cargo unit from the vehicle: a body can be loaded while detached, then mounted on a chassis only when ready to move, improving asset utilisation. Swap bodies are common in European road and combined transport.
Most European swap bodies are class C units standardised in EN 284 — C 715, C 745 and C 782, named after their length in centimetres — with an external width of 2.55 m, wide enough for Euro pallets loaded three abreast. They usually travel in pairs on a truck with a drawbar trailer. Class A swap bodies, 12.2 to 13.6 m long, carry semi-trailer-sized loads and are mainly used in road–rail combined transport, where a crane or reach stacker lifts them.
Compared with an ISO shipping container, a swap body is lighter and usually cannot be stacked, but it has fold-out legs and a wider interior suited to pallets. A container can be stacked high on ships and in terminals, but needs a crane, reach stacker or side-loader to come off a chassis.
Example: a parcel network runs truck-and-drawbar combinations, each carrying two C 745 swap bodies, between its hub and a depot. In the evening the driver drops both loaded bodies at the depot, picks up two bodies with return freight and drives back. The depot unloads overnight without a truck waiting, and one vehicle keeps several bodies in rotation.
Transportial models swap bodies, trailers and containers as means of transport with their own capacity, loading metres and history (see fleet management). Attach and detach actions on a Trip record which vehicle carried which body and when, equipment presets include swap bodies C 745 and C 782, and load planning checks the planned goods against each body's loading metres.
Frequently asked questions
What sizes do swap bodies come in?
The most common swap bodies in Europe are class C units standardised in EN 284: C 715, C 745 and C 782, which are 7.15, 7.45 and 7.82 m long and 2.55 m wide. They are typically carried in pairs on a truck-and-trailer combination. Longer class A swap bodies of 12.2 to 13.6 m exist for semi-trailer-length loads.
What is the difference between a swap body and a container?
A swap body stands on its own fold-out legs, is wider inside for pallets and is built for road and road–rail transport, but generally cannot be stacked. An ISO container is stackable and suited to ships and terminals, but needs lifting equipment to come off a vehicle.
How many Euro pallets fit in a swap body?
A C 745 swap body typically takes 18 Euro pallets on the floor and a C 782 up to 19, depending on the internal length. A C 745 offers about 7.45 loading metres; the free LDM calculator works out the space for mixed loads.
Can swap bodies be transported by rail?
Yes, if they are built for it. Craneable swap bodies, mostly class A, have reinforced grappler pockets so a terminal crane can lift them onto a rail wagon. That is the basis of road–rail intermodal transport in Europe.
See Swap body in a real TMS
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