With more than half a century and tens of thousands of trailers behind it, family-owned Dennison Trailers is certainly one of the UK’s largest players. The company, which has factories in Naas, Ireland, and Lancaster, England, is best known for its skeletal trailers. It commands a 50% market share in the UK, and it’s safe to say that without Dennison Trailers, our ports would very quickly grind to a halt. Its notoriously robust fixed skeletal trailers, which have an impressive 4,000kg unladen weight, come with a choice of either crank-handled or screw-type twist locks. Its sliding skellies, which are suitable for a variety of container sizes, feature a push-pull valve for air-operated locking pins. Customers can specify a self-tracking rear axle from the options list. Other semi-trailers in its huge product portfolio are curtainsiders, platforms, tippers and drawbars. It also manufactures a range of superbly engineered extendable straight-frame and drop-frame trailers, otherwise known as trombones. These extend to 21.2m and 19.7m respectively. As well as having a significant market share in the UK and Ireland, it also has a strong export market. Dennison has a reputation for innovation, and a good example of this is the tractor unit it produced in the late 1970s. During its four-year production run 250 of them found buyers.

Don-Bur’s roots lie in a management buyout of a bodybuilder in 1981 by founder Donald Burton. From a modest start, the company now employs 500 workers to build 1,500 units a year on an 18-acre site. Quite possibly the most progressive UK trailer manufacturer, Don-Bur is a hotbed of innovation. Its recent advances range from the safety benefits achieved by the newly patented LowGlide sliding ground coupling system, which allows a driver to fully complete the trailer coupling safely without having to access the catwalk, to the futuristic virtual reality system that allows visualisation of a trailer from any location. Its most unlikely project, still in a lengthy development process, involves an array of plasma-emitting lights around a trailer’s rear aperture which have a positive effect on its airflow. Aerodynamics are a major preoccupation for the Stoke-on-Trent manufacturer, most notably with its patented Teardrop trailer, the flagship of a comprehensive product range, which in 2006 set the standard that others strive to match. In addition to regular height curtainsiders and box vans, Don-Bur has had a lot of success with its double-deckers, which are offered with fixed or moving decks. The latter can be specified with either a cost-effective mechanical deck, or a hydraulically powered one.

Family owned Gray & Adams has an enviable reputation for building quality temperature-controlled trailers and rigids. Its customer base is rich and varied, and includes major supermarkets, high-profile fleets, and owner-drivers. While its customers have a broad geographical spread, Gray & Adams is particularly dominant in its domestic Scottish market, and it’s unusual to see a lorry load of shellfish heading south of the border in anything other than a Gray & Adams trailer. In addition to reefers, the Fraserburgh-based manufacturer produces a full range of multi-temperature vehicles. These feature dividing lanes and insulated bulkheads, splitting the interior laterally or longitudinally, allowing ambient and chilled products to be carried at the same time. It also produces a number of specialist trailers, for moving goods such as live chicks, hanging meat and pharmaceuticals. Customers looking to maximise their load-carrying potential may want to consider its range of double-deckers, which provide 60% additional floor space. Meanwhile the company claims that its Aerodynamic range can slash fuel costs by as much as 10%. The company prides itself on its ability to build trailers and bodies to customers’ specific requirements.

If you haven’t driven or operated an IVECO for a number of years, now is the time to rediscover the brand. From the 3.5 tonne Daily van, through to the 44 tonne 6×2 Stralis tractor, its extensive range of commercial vehicles really is worth consideration. And that’s not just our view either, as the Daily, Eurocargo and Stralis have each won highly coveted International Van and Truck of the Year awards, adding to an already bulging Turin trophy cabinet. The Stralis is a great truck to drive, thanks to its hugely respected Cursor engines. IVECO was one of the earliest adopters of two-pedal automated manual transmissions, and the Hi-Tronix 12-speed gearbox that’s fitted to its XP range, is unquestionably one of the best on the market. IVECO’s decision to tackle Euro-6 with SCR-only, has proved to be a good one, not only in terms of decent fuel efficiency, but because its trucks do not require diesel particulate filter (DPF) regeneration. This has certainly boosted the appeal of its Eurocargo rigid, which is a major player in the UK’s immortal 7.5-tonne sector. While not turning its back on diesel, IVECO is investing heavily in natural gas-powered trucks, and in 2017 launched a NP (natural power) Stralis in the UK. Proving that this truck is capable of national distribution, it famously drove the 850 miles from John O’Groats to Land’s End on one tank of LNG.