VMS Fleet Management secured 250 new Mercedes Sprinter 314 Chassis Cab with Box Body Vans to meet Iceland’s requirements. The Sprinter 314s are larger than the current vehicle type with the style of a standard ‘supermarket’ specification side-loading body. With the help of partners Paneltex and Solomons Commercials, the vans have been converted to include a triple compartment rear box which, with the Alex Original Twin Evap fridge unit supplied and installed within the vehicles by VMS Refrigeration Ltd, offers ambient, chill and frozen settings for different food and delivery requirements.
These new vehicles boast an increased capacity for customer orders.
VMS has supplied approximately 4,000 vehicles and has managed Iceland’s fleet for over 15 years. Alongside supplying vehicles and fleet management, VMS also provides support services including accident management, fleet maintenance solutions, refrigeration maintenance and compliance, regulatory checks as well as a 24/7 call centre.
Martin James, managing director of VMS Fleet Management, says: “Iceland was the first major food chain outlet to offer home delivery to in-store shoppers, and we’ve been there for the major part of their journey helping those customers who needed that door to door service – which has inevitably grown into a much larger, more complex delivery programme than anyone imagined 25 years ago.
Kevin Tully, head of delivered sales at Iceland Foods, says: “We’ve continued to work closely with VMS Fleet Management to support the significant increase in demand for online deliveries, seeing our volume increase by over 400% against last year’s numbers.”