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Don-Bur has revealed plans for what might be the most aerodynamically advanced high-volume trailer ever built. Technical sales director Andy Richardson says that the palletised freight trailer would have a lifting deck, sited towards the front of the trailer rather than towards the rear, as on present "brick-shaped" trailers. The front would slope down the truck and the rear would have a long, streamlined taper. Some load volume would be lost but most of that could be regained by measures such  as a one-metre-high fifth wheel on the tractor unit.

Don-Bur is likely to have the prototype built in 12 months time, he says. Richardson was speaking at a seminar on lifting-deck trailers held by Don-Bur in Stoke last week. Jason Watkiss, project design team leader, said that the company is now doing advanced stress analysis calculations by computer and gave a demonstration. Detail changes have been made to Don-Bur's lifting deck design to improve durability and future changes will allow weight-saving without compromising performance. Don-Bur expects to build more than 250 lifting-deck trailers this year and has capacity for 500 a year.

Speakers from John Lewis and from Argos said that the trend in their companies was for operators to demand flexibility. John Lewis would like, ideally, to use the same trailers for temperature-controlled and ambient. Around 60 engineers attended from major fleets, including 14 from DHL. Geoff Michie Argos' fleet services manager says  that drivers find the XTA2 44.5x45 19.5 super-single tyres (here, from Michelin) make the tall trailers feel more stable. They also improve tyre life compared with twins, he says. Don-Bur's display of nine trailers included the latest design for Argos and one of 60 to be built for Royal Mail, a Waitrose aluminium lifting deck that has seen more than one year's service and a Curry/DHL trailer.