NR Evans cools chilled trailer fleet with Carrier Vector 1550s 23 February 2011

Welsh haulier NR Evans says it is seeing savings in fuel and maintenance costs, since adding five Vector 1550 refrigerated trailer units from Carrier Transicold to its dairy products fleet.

Roger Noke, group transport manager at the Carmarthen-based temperature controlled distribution firm, says its new tri-axle refrigerated box trailers, built to bespoke specifications by Chereau, are in use on NR Evans' contract with Dairy Crest for supermarket milk operations.

"There are two main elements to delivering value," explains Noke. "One is to move with the demands of customers, and the second is to make good business decisions that reduce overheads and enable us to remain competitive."

Noke says the Carrier refrigeration units are helping to deliver value by to reducing maintenance costs and fuel usage. "We have fitted Carrier's Supra truck units on several of our rigid vehicles over the last few years, and these have performed well. [So] it made sense to use Carrier technology to achieve further operational improvements," he states.

As for why the Vector 1550, Carrier Transicold explains that it is best suited to efficient mono-temperature operations, because is combines a small capacity of 14.8kW with lower fuel consumption.

In brief, a patented hermetic compressor and economiser unit optimises energy consumption and enables the use of a small 1.5 litre diesel engine. Additionally, all-electric technology improves reliability and uptime, as units contain fewer serviceable parts.

NR Evans runs more than 200 vehicular assets, including 110 trailers, 70 artics, 30 rigid trucks and four vans. The company estimates that each new trailer will travel 150,000 km per year and says that these trailers will remain in the fleet for the next seven years.

Author
Brian Tinham

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