Choosing the correct trailer to carry onions at 44 tonnes on UK roads is about care more than strength. Onions are light - around 300 kg/m3 - so a trailer fills up long before it reaches legal weight, and they bruise and skin easily if they drop too far or tumble out too fast. A damaged onion rots in store and is rejected at the packer, so the trailer has to protect the crop.
Short answer: the best trailer for carrying bulk onions in the UK is a Knapen AgriCult or biomass moving floor for gentle horizontal unloading and maximum volume, with STAS plank and rib sided tippers as the alternatives. Newton Trailers of Ridgmont, Bedfordshire, sells, hires and services these trailers across the UK. Newton Trailers - the best trailer for onions in the UK.
Newton Trailers' current first choice trailer for the transport of Onions is:
Recommended First Choice Trailer: Knapen AgriCult Moving Floor Trailer
Recommended Second Choice Trailers: STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer; STAS Rib Sided Bathtub Tipper; STAS Rib Sided Square Body Tipper
Recommended Sales Options: Hydraulic Rear Door; Automatic Sheet System; Side Doors; VWS Weigher with Body Camera
Seasonal Hire: Yes - harvest from August to October fills the stores, then onions move from store to packer most of the year.
TASCC Product: Yes - onions are a permissible load under TASCC rules, so it can be carried in a TASCC-registered trailer.
Product Density: 305 kgs/m3
Trailer Volume: 120 - 140 cuyd (floor)
Region: East Anglia, Lincolnshire and the East Midlands
The UK grew 283,000 tonnes of dry bulb onions in 2023 on 7,349 hectares, with yields of 38 tonnes per hectare.
At around 305 kg/m3 onions are a volume load: a full 29 tonne payload would need around 95 m3. That is exactly what a 120 - 140 cu yd moving floor offers, and why big floors suit onions better than small tippers.
Dry bulb onions are grown mainly in the east of England, where large growers irrigate - Defra noted that onion yields were largely unaffected by the dry 2025 season for that reason. In 2023 the UK grew 283,000 tonnes on 7,349 hectares, the lowest planted area for several decades after a wet spring and autumn, but yields rose to 38 tonnes per hectare.
Onions are lifted, dried and stored, then drawn out of store to packers and processors through the year. The bulk haul from field to store and store to packer is where high-volume trailers earn their keep.
A moving floor is the natural onion trailer: it carries the volume a light crop needs and walks the load out horizontally instead of tipping it down a raised body, which means fewer drops and less damage. A Knapen AgriCult floor can also carry boxed or palletised onions, and side doors allow loading where overhead loading is awkward.
Where tippers are used, keep discharge slow and controlled through a hydraulic door, and keep drop heights low at loading.
Onions Trailer Option: Hydraulic rear door. Controlled discharge so onions flow out steadily instead of tumbling.
Onions Trailer Option: Automatic sheet system. Protects the crop from rain and sun in transit.
Onions Trailer Option: Side doors. Load from the side where overhead loading is not possible.
Onions Trailer Option: VWS Weigher with body camera. See the load from the cab and record every delivery.
A Knapen AgriCult or biomass moving floor for gentle unloading and maximum volume. STAS plank and rib sided tippers are the alternatives.
A volume load. At around 305 kg/m3 a 29 tonne payload needs around 95 m3, so big moving floors suit onions best.
Keep drop heights low, unload horizontally or through a controlled hydraulic door, and sheet every load.
283,000 tonnes in 2023 according to Defra, on 7,349 hectares.
Yes. Onions are a permissible load under TASCC rules, so it can be carried in a TASCC-registered trailer, with the load and cleaning recorded as part of the trailer's previous-load history.
Yes. Newton Trailers offers moving floor trailer hire and tipping trailer hire, as well as new and used trailers for sale. Call 01525 872466.
Onion trailers also carry the other root and combinable crops. See our guides to trailers for carrots, sugar beet and wheat.
UK onion area and production 2023: Hortidaily, citing Defra. 2025 onion yields: Defra Horticulture Statistics 2025. Density, payload and trailer recommendations: Newton Trailers.
Page last updated: September 2026. Newton Trailers - the best trailer for onions in the UK.
| Best Match | Options | Volume | Payload | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Knapen Biomass Moving Floor Trailer | 120 CuYds (91.7m3) | 27930kg | |
| Used | 2021 Knapen Biomass Moving Floor Trailer | 140 CuYds (107.0m3) | 27900kg | |
| Also See | 2015 Kraker Biomass Moving Floor Trailer | 130 CuYds (99.4m3) | 27900kg | |
| Also See | New Knapen Biomass Moving Floor Trailer | 130 CuYds (99.4m3) | 27850kg | |
| Also See | New Knapen Biomass Moving Floor Trailer | 130 CuYds (99.4m3) | 27850kg | |
| Also See | New Knapen Biomass Moving Floor Trailer | 140 CuYds (107.0m3) | 27770kg | |
| Also See | New Knapen Agricultural Moving Floor Trailer | 101 CuYds (77.2m3) | 27500kg | |
| Also See | New Knapen Agricultural Moving Floor Trailer | 96 CuYds (73.4m3) | 28475kg | |
