Cartwright has created what it believes to be the most advanced Insuliner trailer for Scottish customer Northwards Ltd and is confident that its innovative design will become the new standard.
Northwards are an established freight, distribution and transport operator serving the north of Scotland and the northern isles with depots in Shetland, Orkney, Scrabster, Inverness, Aberdeen and Glasgow. It is one of the main operators on the routes to Orkney and Shetland with arguably the most diverse and comprehensive range of equipment and services available for its clients.
Four Insuliner trailers have now been delivered by Cartwright to Northwards following a trial of the first trailer allowing the Cartwright engineers to further enhance the trailer’s performance.
This game changing Insuliner has been specifically designed to combat the major salt problems Northwards have experienced in the past with its trailers being continually exposed to salt spray during the 14 hour ferry trip to / from the mainland, with rust then becoming a particular problem.
With this in mind, the trailer has been designed around a fully galvanised chassis with the headboard and rear door pillars made from the same material. For the crossbearers (supporting the insulated floor), side rave and cant rail, Cartwright used the innovative Magnelis coated steel, which offers the best possible strength with corrosion resistant properties that are up to to ten times better than galvanising.
Neil Leslie, Director of Northwards Ltd, stated: “We have 55 vehicles and around 120 trailers and they are repeatedly exposed to the salt laden air on the 12-14 hour ferry journey between Aberdeen and the Shetland Islands, particularly in the autumn and winter months. The problem of salt was affecting the build integrity of our trailers, particularly corrosion on the front bulkheads.
“The bespoke trailer is also fully ENXL compliant giving maximum load security for uniform loads without the need for additional strapping and also features a twin pelmet and heavily insulated curtain to ensure the best possible temperature control in the trailer.”
Neil added: “We are excited by the quality and specification of the new Insuliner from Cartwright.
“We are primarily serving the island communities in Orkney and Shetland and the freight is very varied. With a range of industries from Aquaculture to Oil & Gas it is a mixture of all types of goods for customers large and small to service the community on the islands and keep their economies going.
“These insuliners will be used to export fresh salmon from the islands with the versatility of being able to load a variety of different cargoes for the return journey by having the flexibility to load/unload through the side rather than being restricted to the opening area of the rear doors on a standard fridge trailer.”
Jon Wilcock, Key Accounts Manager, for Cartwright, commented: “We believe we have built the most robust, carefully-designed Insuliner for RORO operation in the marketplace. In our view it’s the best in class available in the UK today.”
Northwards has also ordered two fixed double deck curtainsiders, one in company livery and the other displaying UPN (United Pallet Network) livery. Both will be used for UPN palletised deliveries.
