Choosing the correct trailer to carry rapeseed at 44 tonnes on UK roads means thinking small. Oilseed rape is a tiny, round, oily seed of around two millimetres that flows almost like a liquid. It will find any gap in a door seal, a floor or a sheet, and on a crop worth well over £400 a tonne every leak is money on the road. So the best rapeseed trailer is a seed-tight trailer first, and a high-payload trailer second.
Short answer: the best trailer for carrying rapeseed in bulk in the UK is a seed-tight Knapen AgriCult moving floor trailer with good door seals, an automatic sheet and a grain sock, or a well-sealed STAS plank sided tipping trailer. Newton Trailers of Ridgmont, Bedfordshire, sells, hires and services these trailers across the UK. Newton Trailers - the best trailer for rapeseed in the UK.
Newton Trailers' current first choice trailer for the transport of Rapeseed is:
Recommended First Choice Trailer: Knapen AgriCult Moving Floor Trailer
Recommended Second Choice Trailers: STAS Plank Sided Tipping Trailer; STAS Rib Sided Bathtub Tipping Trailer; STAS Rib Sided Square Body Tipping Trailer
Recommended Sales Options: Seed-Tight Door and Floor Seals; Grain Sock; Automatic Sheet System; VWS Weigher with TASCC logging
Seasonal Hire: Yes - rapeseed is the first combinable crop harvested, from July into August, then moves from store to crusher and port through the year.
TASCC Product: Yes
Product Density: 641 - 774 kgs/m3
Trailer Volume: 71 - 90 cuyd
Region: Eastern and southern England, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and eastern Scotland
893,000 tonnes of oilseed rape grown in the UK in 2025, from 241,000 hectares.
At 641 - 774 kgs/m3 rapeseed is a weight load like wheat. A 29 tonne payload is only 37 - 45 m3, so a 71 cu yd (54 m3) tipper or a 90 cu yd (69 m3) floor reaches legal weight with room to spare. If 893,000 tonnes moved just once at 29 tonnes a load, that would be around 31,000 trailer loads.
Oilseed rape is the bright yellow crop of the British spring and the UK's main oilseed. In 2025 the UK grew 893,000 tonnes. The area fell 18% to 241,000 hectares - the lowest this century - but yields jumped 30% to 3.7 tonnes per hectare, so production still rose 7%. Even so, UK growers supply only around half of the rapeseed the country uses, and the rest is imported.
It is the first combinable crop off the field each summer, usually from July, and it goes to three places: crushing plants that press it into rapeseed oil and rapemeal for animal feed, the export market, and a growing number of cold-press producers bottling British rapeseed oil. As a combinable crop it must be hauled in TASCC-registered trailers, cleaned and logged between loads.
Most rapeseed still moves in aluminium bulk tipping trailers, and a well-sealed STAS plank sided tipper does the job well. The trend in Europe is towards agricultural moving floors for seeds and grains. A Knapen AgriCult floor unloads horizontally into the intake pit, removing the risk of tipping on uneven farm yards, and the same trailer can carry grain, feed, straw bales and palletised product the rest of the year.
For intake pits, a grain sock or funnel on the rear door directs the seed exactly where it needs to go instead of spraying it across the pit. With a seed this small, that is the difference between a clean tip and a costly clean-up.
Rapeseed escapes where wheat stays put. Check the rear door seal and its corners, the joins between floor and body, and the sheet along the top rails before every harvest. A trailer that is perfectly adequate for wheat can lose a noticeable amount of rapeseed over a long run. Clean thoroughly between loads: rapeseed left in corners contaminates the next customer's grain and breaks TASCC traceability.
Rapeseed Trailer Option: Seed-tight door and floor seals. Good rubber seals, checked every season, stop the smallest seeds escaping on the road.
Rapeseed Trailer Option: Grain sock. Directs the flow into the intake pit - clean, controlled and nothing wasted.
Rapeseed Trailer Option: Automatic sheet system. Closes fully along the top rails so seed cannot blow out, and keeps the driver off the catwalk.
Rapeseed Trailer Option: VWS Weigher with body camera. Legal weight every time, live GPS location and automatic logging for TASCC traceability.
A seed-tight Knapen AgriCult moving floor with good door seals, an automatic sheet and a grain sock. A well-sealed STAS plank sided or rib sided tipper is the second choice.
A 44 tonne articulated trailer carries around 29 tonnes. At 641 - 774 kg/m3 that is 37 - 45 m3, so the trailer reaches legal weight before it is full.
Yes. Oilseed rape is a combinable crop and must be hauled in TASCC-registered trailers that are cleaned and logged between loads.
893,000 tonnes in 2025 from 241,000 hectares, with an average yield of 3.7 tonnes per hectare. UK production covers around half of UK use.
Yes. Newton Trailers offers tipping trailer hire and moving floor trailer hire for harvest, as well as new and used trailers for sale. Call 01525 872466.
Rapeseed trailers carry the rest of the combinable crop harvest too. See our guides to trailers for wheat, barley, oats and grain.
AIC TASCC: the trade assurance scheme for hauling, storing and trading combinable crops, including oilseed rape.
Rapeseed ends up in the kitchen as British rapeseed oil - and there is no better use for it than the Sunday roast potatoes. With a higher smoke point than olive oil it roasts hot and crisp without burning. And just in case all this reading has made you hungry, as much as I love selling trailers I love a crispy roastie (married to a reformed vegetarian – what can you do?). Click Here
UK 2025 oilseed rape production, area, yield and self-sufficiency: Defra, Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2025 and AHDB. Density and trailer recommendations: Newton Trailers.
Page last updated: September 2026. Newton Trailers - the best trailer for rapeseed in the UK.
| Best Match | Options | Volume | Payload | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Knapen Agricultural Moving Floor Trailer | 96 CuYds (73.4m3) | 28475kg | |
| Also See | New Knapen Agricultural Moving Floor Trailer | 101 CuYds (77.2m3) | 27500kg | |
| Also See | New Knapen Agricultural Moving Floor Trailer | 90 CuYds (68.8m3) | 27475kg | |
