When you know you will require 35 brand new double deck semi-trailers to augment your dryfreight fleet every year for the foreseeable future and your company has a culture of bringing in-house as many engineering operations as possible, then it was on the cards that an 'own build' solution would be pursued by Carntyne Transport.

Fortunately for the north Glasgow hauliers, part of the Russell Group, Fruehauf was leaving its plant at Dereham, Norfolk, with no wish to remove its box body building line. A deal with Carntyne was struck and the hardware moved north to a vacated 37,500sq.ft warehouse on site, now 're-jigged' into a full trailer body assembly facility complete with overhead cranes, heavy presses and gantries.

In charge is Russell Group fleet engineer Jim Jeffries who now has this additional string to his bow, as well as overseeing the servicing of trucks in both Russell and Carntyne colours.

Outlining current capabilities, Jim explains, "We have mastered the double deck dryfreight boxvan build concept best suited for bulk whisky transport and now we are looking for batch production and economy of scale. Soon we will be looking at curtainsiders, using the same assembly line and built on the same style of triaxle chassis which we buy in to our spec from Concept in Northern Ireland."

"We specify BPW running gear, Jost landing legs and Haldex braking systems, a composite specification with which we are comfortable."

"One unusual aspect of our box bodies is the bright polish finish on 304 stainless steel which turns heads out on the road. We apply the vinyl graphics supplied by OPG at Lesmahagow and of course not only do we build the trailers, we apply total vehicle maintenance to ensure their roadworthiness."

"When we move into curtainsiders we will begin with refurbs and rise to full build when staff levels allow. We have a team of six at the moment, but we could double that."

"This would then allow us to not only meet our own demands, we could also build with GRP walls which widens our range to attract external customers," says Jim.

Director Brian Harkness is convinced that once the full complement of production staff is in place, Carntyne could become a centre of excellence.

"Certainly when it comes to double deck dryfreight we are as close to becoming experts as you get. Our entire fleet is twin deck and this is the way our industry will go, thanks to health and safety issues which unfortunately also have a downside; they are expensive and the payload suffers, but that's the way we have to build them, as long as we can recruit the necessary engineering staff."