Europe’s top trailer maker is now in paradise.
Ansari Baksh, managing director of the Ansaf Trading Company, from the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, was so impressed with the products of Ifor Williams Trailers that’s he’s become a distributor for that part of the Caribbean.
He first came into contact with Ifor Williams Trailers when he wanted to buy new equipment for his garden maintenance business.
Ansari, who’s based in the town of Barrackpore, needed something to help him transport his mini excavator, roller and a ride-on lawn mower from job to job.
After checking out trailers from a number of rival manufacturers, including some in the United States, Ansari quickly opted for one manufactured over 4,000 miles away in Wales.
He liked the first one so much that he soon bought another – and then successfully applied to become the company’s distributor for the paradise islands.
As well as being sold through a network of 50 UK distributors, the trailers are exported all over the world with distributors as far afield as Australia and New Zealand – not to mention the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Japan and Africa.
Andrew Reece-Jones, the Design Engineering Manager at Ifor Williams Trailers, was delighted they now had a new distributor in the Caribbean.
He said: “We are very proud of what we do here and we are extremely pleased that the quality of our trailers is recognised at home and abroad.
“It is gratifying to know that Ansari holds the company and our trailers in in such high esteem.”
Started in 2010, Ansaf Trading Company is run by Ansari and his wife Safiyya who gave up her job as a secondary school teacher to help out as the business grew.
Now with a team of four full-time staff plus up to 10 part-timers, they specialise in general contracting services, grounds maintenance and equipment rentals.
Describing how the business began to branch out into trailers, Ansari said: “A few years ago, if you saw a guy with a mini excavator, you might laugh and say that two guys with a shovel could do the job.
“But in recent years mini excavators have become increasingly popular on the island and we even purchased one for Ansaf.
“Hiring a truck or lorry to transport the equipment turned out to be pretty expensive.
“We decided that having our own trailer to transport our equipment would enable us to provide this service at a reasonable price to the customer.
“We began our search on the internet to find a manufacturer with trailers that would be suitable for our market. We contacted a few companies in the USA, but knew there would have been some issues with trailers manufactured there, including shipping.
“Trailers manufactured in the USA tend to be longer and wider, which not only increased the shipping costs, but also meant that you needed a bigger towing vehicle, and it would be difficult for them to fit on our narrow island roadways.”
Ansari added: “In 2013 we visited the UK to meet with our suppliers and began enquiring about the trailers that were popular there in the UK. Ifor Williams Trailers was by far the most recommended.
“Our first purchase was made in 2014 with two general purpose trailers, a GX126 and a GX106.
“The GX106 was sold to a customer who faced the same high mobilization costs for his small roller. I spoke to him about a month after and he was extremely happy with his purchase, saying that the trailer had already paid for itself.
“We kept the GX126 to transport our own equipment, and we recently contacted Ifor Williams Trailers to make arrangements for our second order.
“That’s how we eventually became their distributor for Trinidad and Tobago.
“Every time I use our GX126 trailer, I couldn’t be happier with our decision. There are so many features on the Ifor Williams Trailers that make it perfect for our market.
“The two most important ones are its compact size and light weight. They are very compact and manoeuvrable, but big enough to hold just about any small equipment you have.”
“It’s a pleasure to be associated with Ifor Williams Trailers, and we look forward to building our relationship with them over the years.”
Another company which reached out across the globe to buy trailers from Ifor Williams Trailers is the Retro Future Corporation based almost 6,000 miles away in Saitama, Japan.
Specialising in breeding horses, it also plans and manages traditional Japanese wedding ceremonies in which beautifully decorated horses play a major role.
Satomi Sugiura, a sales and accounting manager, explained that the company needed two horse trailers to serve both these areas of the business and started to look around for the best models it could find.
He said: “One of our directors saw some Ifor Williams trailers on display when he was visiting Europe.
“We chose the Ifor Williams trailers rather than those from other manufacturers after some careful study and investigation which showed their deep understanding of the needs of horses.
“We also found that Ifor Williams has an innovative loading and unloading system for its horse trailers.”
He added: “We are using the trailers for a variety of businesses, such as taking horses to visit children at kindergartens and attending equestrian events.
“For the wedding ceremonies we use horses with a carriage. The horses are decorated to match the carriage and the circumstances of the wedding and can have a very impressive effect.”
Caption
Ansari Baksh, managing director of the Ansaf Trading Company based in the town of Barrackpore is in the south of Trinidad and Tobago, sitting on an Ifor Williams trailer.
