Steve Porter Transport enjoyed a busy summer, with a jump in drop-trailer movements during the period.

The Isle of Wight haulier, which runs a drop-trailer service from Southampton to the island making use of Red Funnel ferries, saw drop-trailer movements increase by almost a quarter from the 13 January to 13 August to reach 9,885.

This was an increase of 1,947 trailer movements from 7,938 in the corresponding period a year ago.

Steve Porter Transport MD, Malcolm Gibson, said: “We have enjoyed our best ever summer in our 33 year history on the Isle of Wight. In August alone we moved almost 1,500 trailers, which represents a record month and is a good indication of the growing popularity of the service.

“It’s a unique service that we offer to Island based businesses and is proving increasingly popular with clients, which include a growing number of supermarkets, retail outlets and the popular Bestival event.”

The drop trailer service is predominantly aimed at those businesses who have regular, multiple loads and who do not want to tie up vehicle and driver resources travelling across to the island. Full trailers are 'dropped' by the customer at either Steve Porter’s depot or the ferry port and, once the goods are delivered on the Isle of Wight, the trailer is re-instated for customer collection.

In August, Steve Porter revealed it had won a contract with French logistics giant Geodis Calberson to operate all of its delivery and collection requirements across the south-coast of England.