King spreading OK wings
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by Bryan Jarvis • King Trailers, best known for its heavy-haulage trailers, is expanding into the general haulage market and stepping up its export activities.
Products for the UK include high-cube drawbar trailers, flats for the bodybuilder sector and 38/44-tonne container trailers.
A range of single or double extending "trombone"-type trailers are due to be ready by Easter. In the UK they will compete with Nooteboom and Broshuis; they will also support King's export drive into Europe, particularly Germany, where a sales office has been set up in Hof.
Tri-axled step-frame trailers are being built for stock and King reports increasing interest in its steered axle/bogie trailers. Sales director Mark Carrington says: "There's a general perception that if UK operators want to carry goods abroad they ought to use foreign-made trucks and trailers—well it's just not true anymore."
He points out that King has been building trailers for Germany for some years; 40 of its heavy-haulage trailers are now working there. "And why not?" says Carrington. "We are BS5750 and ISO 9001 registered and are competitive on price. We also build to the highest Military AQAP standards (King has just completed an order for 290 MoD DROPS trailers) and this benefits all our customers," The company dates back to 1962 when it was founded in Northampton by Ontario-based King Truck Equipment to manufacture heavy-duty trailers and low loaders.
It is now a Boustead group member, which gives it access to a number of international markets, and builds for many sectors of the trailer market.
Carrington says that the engineering needed to produce special trailers with multiple power-steered axle sets is not a continental speciality: many of King's products are one-off specials or built in small numbers; they are extremely complex in terms of design and fabrications. These projects are helped by a network of five CAD stations which are linked via a file server to computer-controlled cutting machinery.
Examples include the trailers built to transport wings for the European Airbus and a mobile test bed for aero engines.
Among trailers in build now is a 13m low-loader which Cumberworth heavy haulier AP Hollingworth can extend by 3.0m to carry large, heavy tubing. It runs on SAF air-sprung axles and 205/65 17.5 low-profile tyres to hold the loadbed down to 650mm.
King claims more than 50% of the UK Special Types sector; its move into the general C&U market is designed to make more of its manufacturing potential.
The company already builds the Lolode range of 5.5-tonne three-way tippers, sign/cone trailers and cable carriers. Another speciality is pole trailers, which British Telecom and its foreign counterparts take in large numbers.
King has recently been building platform trailers under contract to other manufacturers and is also developing container carriers for single or twin 6.1m,92m or 12.2m boxes. two years King has also produced more than 400 drawbar trailers, many of them extendibles using Contar or Esteppe couplings.
It is presently building about 10 a month, but production is increasing to meet recent orders.
Carrington believes operators are using C&U-size low-loaders to shift mixed plant loads, including planers, because they attract less tax than a fully fledged STGO outfit.
This demand is catered for by the new Dyson range which caters for 38-tonne GCW operation but can run at up to 46 tonnes on Category 1 STGO work. The basic trailer weighs in at 6.9 tonnes and can have a main deck as low as 650min.
Low loaders remain King's core business; most of its specials are variations on a theme using a modular design which are linked using 6.5, 10 or 16tonne axles according to the gross limit Carrington is well aware of the fragility of the UK market and knows that if King becomes over-active in too many niche areas it can no longer claim to be a specialist. But he is determined to ensure that King realises its potential. "We would make excellent hot cross buns here too," he says, "if there were enough Good