First naturally refrigerated trailer trialled by Sainsbury’s06 September 2013

Sainsbury's is trialling the world's first naturally refrigerated trailer to transport chilled and frozen goods.

The trial of the CO2 refrigerated unit – developed by Carrier Transicold – is part of the retailer's review of its transport refrigeration gas and work to reduce its carbon footprint, which includes converting its stores to natural refrigeration by 2030.

The two-year trial will see Sainsbury's use a modified version of Carrier's HFC-free NaturaLINE refrigeration system, which was initially developed for deep sea containers and completed a rigorous sea trial programme in 2012.

"This is the very first time that our NaturaLINE system has been mounted to a box trailer anywhere in the world," explains David Appel, president of Carrier Transicold. "It's a fantastic opportunity to advance Carrier's environmental technologies and, by working closely with Sainsbury's, to test how the concept performs on the road.

Sainsbury's has also recently extended its Dual-Fuel fleet to 51 vehicles saving up to 25% in carbon emissions (over 2,090 tonnes of CO2). The environmentally friendly fleet, now one of the largest in the UK, operates on a combination of diesel and bio-methane, produced from rotting organic material in landfill. Each Dual-Fuel vehicle will save around 41 tonnes of CO2 from being dispersed into the atmosphere each year.

Nick Davies, Sainsbury's head of transport operations, says: "The new carbon dioxide technology has much less of an impact on climate change and we hope it will play a big part in helping us reduce our carbon emissions. We will be monitoring its performance closely and if successful, in line with our replacement plan, it could help us save over 70,000 tonnes of CO2 compared to the current refrigerated trailer fleet."

In 2008 Sainsbury's was the first supermarket to make daily food deliveries using a truck powered by bio-methane. One year later it ran a successful trial of five Dual-Fuel vehicles to support its environmental targets.

Author
John Challen

Related Companies
Carrier Transicold (UK) Ltd

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