The Isle of Wight’s largest independent freight carrier, Steve Porter Transport, has reported an increase in deliveries to the Island since the beginning of the year in response to the growing number of visitors to the Island and the increasing popularity of festivals and events.
According to Visit Isle of Wight Ltd, visitor numbers for the Isle of Wight have increased by 20% on last year (Jan-March 2015), with expenditure up by 35% over the same period.
Steve Porter Transport Managing Director, Malcolm Gibson, said: “It stands to reason that as the Island grows in popularity in terms of the number of events and the people these attract, then the amount of goods required to service these will increase.
“As the only provider of a drop trailer service to the Isle of Wight from Southampton we are involved in the movement of a wide range of goods for a variety of events such as The Isle of Wight Festival, Bestival, Cowes Regatta, and VDubb to name but a few. Every year these events get bigger and the demand for goods increases.
“This does of course present a range of challenges, such as trailer parking and tightening of availability, however, as experts in the movement of goods to the Island, we are well versed at dealing with these issues.”
The drop trailer service is predominantly aimed at those businesses who have regular, multiple loads and who do not want to tie up their valuable 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. This is a cost effective and efficient system that benefits the customer with operational advantages being available with off-peak crossings.
Since the beginning of 2015 Steve Porter has moved around 8,000 trailers, which represents a record period for the firm, which has been operating on the Island since 1981. This is a good indication of the growing popularity of the drop trailer service among businesses, retailers and event organizers on the Island.
