Trailer Talk

An increasing number of companies are ordering custom spec trailers, with many manufacturers embracing the practice as competition and customer expectations grow.

- Chris Tindall

A need to reduce operating costs, cou-pled with the requirement to meet stringent environmental standards and maximise cubic capacity, means companies are increasingly opting for custom spec trailers.

Graham Usher, Sales and Commercial Director at Cartwright, says: “We are seeing an increase in special requests, which we are happy to accommodate. We understand that transport needs are diversifying and our products have to constantly evolve and adapt to meet those demands.”

Usher says the most common features requested by companies are solutions to reduce damage to goods and improve fuel consumption.

He says it encourages customers to look at their operations and tell Cartwright where it can modify the build of a trailer to reduce damage, or create new operational benefits.

A case in point is international operator Aspray 24. Next-day delivery is the core of its business and its niche is being able to deliver anything “from a jiffy bag to a full load and anything in between.”

It recently ordered a large number of rigid vehicle curtain-sided bodies from Cartwright. The bodies are all XL rated and include an alarm in the cab that is hooked up to the tail lift and lets the driver know that it is stowed away properly.

Tailored for customers

Aspray has also been working with Cartwright to improve payload. Vehicle chassis have had to comply with upgrades in Euro standards, meaning that the company has lost payload.

A solution was found, improving payload by between 5% and 6%, which resulted from working together on the bodies as well as a new lightweight tail-lift.

“Because we have produced transport solutions across such a wide variety of sectors we have a lot of experience to draw on in each case to provide unique solutions,” Usher says.