Shetland Transport is set to increase the number of Gray & Adams insulated and refrigerated curtainside semi-trailers on its fleet to nine.

Like their predecessors, the latest additions to the fleet of nearly 100 semi-trailers will be used on regular runs between Shetland Transport’s headquarters in Lerwick, and depots in Aberdeen and at Coatbridge, near Glasgow.

The 13.6-metre Gray & Adams trailers were all built at the manufacturer’s production facility in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland.

They are equipped with low-emission Thermo King SLX-e 400 refrigeration units, while heavy-duty insulated curtains ensure temperature integrity as well as providing side access loading capability.

The curtainside trailers also feature a specially strengthened chassis, which prevents them from buckling and bending in rough seas during the 12-hour ferry crossing.

Hamish Balfour, Shetland Transport founder and managing director, said: “Prior to taking delivery of our first two Gray & Adams insulated and refrigerated curtainsiders in 2014, it had been some 15 years since we’d last operated this type of product. 

"But those early trailers were not by Gray & Adams and gave us a few headaches, mainly because they weren’t robust enough to withstand the rigours of North Sea ferry crossings.

“However, the Gray& Adams versions, which we purchased along with another batch of our usual, ferry spec box trailers, have proved very successful.”

Also available as truck bodies, Gray & Adams curtainsiders are best-suited to single-temperature distribution operations. Key to the product’s appeal for operators like Shetland Transport, is the flexibility and speed of loading and unloading it offers, compared to a conventional box.

Balfour added: “Most of our outbound loads are of salmon, and other fish, but we also carry a certain amount of what I call ‘ugly’ freight, by which I mean products which are particularly long or big and bulky.

“Its easy access side-loading capability makes the curtainsider particularly well suited to this type of work.”

Gray & Adams designs and builds bespoke transport equipment that meets the precise requirements of its customers’ operations – Shetland Transport’s insulated curtainside trailers, for example, feature specially strengthened chassis, which prevents them from buckling and bending in rough seas during the 12-hour ferry crossing.