A vehicle is disclosed having a composite cargo body. A floor of the cargo body is constructed of a first composite material. A roof, a right sidewall, a left sidewall, and a nose of the cargo body are constructed of a second composite material different from the first composite material. Various components of the composite cargo body are bonded together with an adhesive. Mechanical fasteners also may be used to join other components of composite cargo body.

A cargo transport rear frame includes a par of posts spaced apart in a width direction, an upper cross member extending along the width direction between respective upper ends of the pair of posts, and a rear bolster extending along the width direction between respective lower ends of the pair of posts. The rear bolster has a first side facing in a forward direction that is perpendicular to both the width and height directions, and the rear bolster has a second side facing in a rearward direction to be exposed to a rear side of the cargo transport rear frame. The rear bolster comprises a sheet metal stamping including a base surface and a relief embossed in the rearward direction from the base surface to form a loading dock engagement feature configured to withstand repeated loading dock impacts.

A cargo body includes a floor configured to support a cargo load and a roof positioned above the floor. The roof includes a roof panel having a composite construction including a first skin, a second skin, and a core positioned between the first and second skins. The cargo body includes first and second lateral sidewalls, each having an upper rail extending along an upper edge thereof. An edge portion of the roof panel is joined to one of the first and second upper rails.

A cargo body includes a floor, a roof, a first sidewall extending between the floor and the roof, and a second sidewall extending between the floor and the roof, the second sidewall cooperating with the first sidewall, the floor, and the roof to define a cargo receiving volume. The floor is defined by at least one composite panel including a core and a pair of skins sandwiching the core.

Apparatus and methods for joining nodes, extrusions, and panels are presented herein. Nodes, extrusions, and panels can be joined together using adhesive joining techniques. The adhesive joining techniques can be applied to additively manufactured nodes or extrusions, and sandwich panels. Sandwich panels can be additively manufactured and/or commercial off the shelf (COTS) components. There can be more than one type of a joint formed by the joining techniques. Exemplary types of j oints can use a liquid adhesive in conjunction with a vacuum and/or a film foam adhesive.

A sidewall assembly for a trailer including: a plurality of composite sandwich panels; and at least one composite side post coupled to the plurality of composite sandwich panels, each of the at least one composite side post including an outer post and an inner logistics post coupled to the outer post, wherein the outer post is formed with flexible metallic material and the inner logistics post is formed with hard metallic material.

A container including a first panel with a first edge having a first protrusion with a first contoured profile with at least one projection, a second panel with a second edge having a second protrusion with a second contoured profile with at least one projection, and a spline with a first channel that defines a recess with an interior profile, and a second channel separate from the first channel that defines a recess with an interior profile. The first and second channels receive the first and second protrusions, respectively, such that the first contoured profile is complementary to a portion of the interior profile and the second contoured profile is complementary to a portion of the interior profile. The first and second panel include a mid-section extending from the first and second edges, respectively. The first and second edges have a greater thickness than the thickness of the mid-sections.

A modular trailer wall system for containing loads. The trailer system is detachably attached to a deck of a utility trailer, the deck and wall system being adapted to be towed by a vehicle. The wall system has two side walls extending upwardly from the pair of lateral edges of the deck. A front wall extends upwardly from the leading edge of the deck. A removable, adjustably located partition extends upwardly from the deck. The removable partition is adapted to extend between the two side walls at a position that lies above or ahead of the trailing edge of the deck. Locking mechanisms detachably attach the removable partition in its upright position to one or more of the side walls. Attachment mechanisms detachably secure the wall system to the deck.

A container apparatus includes a sandwich structure. In another aspect, a cargo-securing or logistics track is attached to a sandwich structure of a container apparatus which employs at least one core sheet including alternating peaks and valleys therein in addition to at least one adhesively bonded outer face sheet. Yet another aspect of a container apparatus includes a depression in a sandwich structure adapted to receive a flush mounted track or post therein. Another aspect of a container apparatus includes a ship-lap and/or bent peripheral flange at a panel-to-panel interface seam.

A cargo body includes sidewalls constructed of pairs of panels secured together at respective joints. Each panel is an assembled panel having a core, an interior skin, and an exterior skin. Each of the joints is formed as a lap joint in which edge portions of first and second panels overlap each other. The first panel has a reduced-thickness core portion throughout the edge portion in which a core thickness measured between the interior and exterior skins is less than half of a maximum core thickness of the first panel. The second panel has a reduced-thickness core portion throughout the edge portion in which a core thickness measured between the interior and exterior skins is less than a maximum core thickness of the second panel.