The contract is for six new refrigerated 3.5-tonne Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans and one refrigerated 7.2-tonne Iveco Daily, each supplied in William Sword livery. The vehicles will deliver ambient, chilled and frozen produce across Scotland and northern England.
Fraikin saw off two other potential providers, winning the four-year, full-service contract hire deal.
Douglas Sword, managing director at William Sword, says: “We opted for Fraikin because they understood precisely what we required, tailoring an agreement that best suited our business. We know we can rely on them to keep our vehicles on the road when we need them, alleviating unnecessary pressures on our team and enabling us to focus on our core business.
“The full-service deal also offers us the most cost-effective way of operating our fleet.Aside from fuel and vehicle insurance, our monthly vehicle operating costs are nailed down, so we know exactly how much to budget for the duration of the contract.”
Fraikin’s Bellshill branch will carry out inspections, servicing and tyre management of the new vehicles, as well as maintaining the Carrier Transicold Xarios refrigeration systems – all on a collection and delivery basis.
Each vehicle is expected to clock up 120,000 miles a year and all are covered by Fraikin’s 24/7 roadside assistance.
William Sword also has access to Fraikinview, a web portal enabling the operator to monitor the maintenance cycle of vehicles.