All of the tractors have been specified with the Globetrotter XL cab, I-Shift AMT (automated manual transmission) and Long Haul fuel economy software.
The order includes 38 Volvo FH-540 tractors equipped with the latest line-fitted lightweight pusher-axle plus an additional six Volvo FH-540 standard pusher-axle tractors and six Volvo FH-540 tag-axle tractors.
The flagship of the order is a 120 tonne gcw, Volvo FH16-750 6x4 heavy-haulage tractor unit for Lomas’s recently launched heavy haulage low-loader operations. This vehicle is to be fitted with the latest I-Shift with crawler gears, for heavy load, high-torque manoeuvres – as shown recently with Volvo’s 750 tonne heavy haulage challenge.
The order also includes a number of Volvo FM-460 8x4 tippers, with sleeper cabs and, again, the I-Shift transmission – and all engines are to the latest Step C Euro 6 specification engine.
The arrival of the new trucks will see the Euro 6 compliant content of Lomas Distribution’s 250 strong fleet move up to 50%.
“Reducing the average age of the fleet to three years, has been helped along by selling and disposing of some of our older equipment through auction,” comments Lomas Distribution managing director Richard Lomas.
“Achieving this age profile is one of the ways to ensure we continue to deliver the most reliable and efficient service to our customers,” he adds.
Deliveries commence in the summer and are scheduled throughout the rest of 2016.
The company is also extending its age restriction policy to its fleet of trailers, reducing their in-service life to five years, and has now acquired several new Fruehauf and Feldbinder trailers.
A further addition to the fleet is the purchase of a new Faymonville four-axle low-loader, plated for use up to 120 tonnes under the STGO category.
The new trucks, which are covered by Volvo’s Uptime Assurance, will be maintained under a three year Volvo Gold R&M contract by Hartshorne Group technicians working on-site at Lomas Distribution’s workshop in Buxton, Derbyshire.