Being situated in a county heavily linked to salt, which has shaped and remains an active industry in the adjacent towns of Middlewich, Nantwich and Northwich, Tiger Trailers’ bespoke trailer design and manufacture project for Salt Express brought with it an added layer of local relevance and sentiment.
Over the last thirty years, Salt Express has become one of the leading salt suppliers and distributors in the UK and specialises in the processing, packaging and distribution of all grades and package sizes of salts for industrial use, food, animal feed, winter highway use in the form of grit or rock salt, as salt for water softening and saturation, and salt used by the cosmetics sector.
Salt Express operates a fleet of specialist delivery vehicles including salt pressure vacuum tankers and curtainsided trailers of varying sizes, some with the facility to carry Moffett mounted fork-lift trucks. The company currently has three UK sites, with its headquarters in Somerset, a warehouse in Felixstowe, and a new 656-tonne storage and production site in Runcorn, not far from Tiger Trailers, to whom Salt Express turned for its latest fleet addition.
Elliott Withers, Salt Express’ Managing Director, comments: “We are very pleased with the specialist curtainsider that Tiger manufactured for our salt transportation operations and I would like to extend a special thank you to design engineer Ignacio in particular. Iggy’s attention to detail, tenacity and expertise instilled us with confidence and shone through in the finished trailer, which we’re proud to add to our fleet.”
With Salt Express originally having operated vehicles branded in yellow, its new 13.6m Tiger curtainsider shows off the company’s new and striking French Blue identity, which is also carried across to the landing legs and wheels centres.
The lightweight tri-axle trailer was specifically designed and manufactured through Tiger’s specialist facilities to be lower in height at 3.8m to meet the customer’s logistical requirements, which also necessitated provision for a compact Moffett fork-lift. Due to the physical characteristics of salt, the semi-trailer’s EN 12642 XL-rated chassis is fully galvanised, and anti-corrosive steel was used for the side rave, which incorporates the ability for the twenty-six load securing rings to be pulled up.
Stephen Pollock, Tiger Trailers’ Business Development Director, says: “It’s always interesting to work on bespoke products tailored to the needs of the customer, which in this case meant a trailer suitable for the transportation of salt, known for its corrosiveness. Salt Express’ eye-catching curtainsider attracted a lot of attention prior to its collection and we hope it goes on to prove a valuable fleet asset. It’s been a pleasure to support such an engaged customer.”
Salt Express’ new Tiger fleet asset has entered operation throughout the UK, and the company, which specialises in cosmetic Dead Sea and Himalayan bath salts, also distributes to export customers in the Republic of Ireland.
Tiger Trailers’ specialist design and engineering division typically provides solutions ranging from chipliners and flatbeds to fork-lift truck carriers and coil-carriers, for end users including CNG Services, Provip and XPO Logistics.
