Environmental compatibility was the key criterion for dairy distribution specialist Pattemores Transport when it bought its latest 6x2 Mercedes-Benz Axor 2533 26-tonne tanker.
"The major supermarkets are paying increasing attention to the impact of our operations upon the environment," explains transport director Alex Pattemore.
"Emissions have therefore become a major factor in our vehicle purchasing decisions, and I know I can rely on the clean-burning engine technology developed by Mercedes-Benz to provide our business with the 'green' credentials our customers are looking for."
Pattemores operates 23 trucks, all Mercedes and most tractor units although the line-up includes eight rigids – a combination of 18- and 26-tonners.
As with the three 44-tonne Actros 2546 Long Distance tractors Pattemores bought last year, the latest addition was supplied by Poole dealer Pentagon Commercials.
Pattemores collects milk from farms throughout the south-west and brings it into its dairy at Crewkerne, Dorset. It also makes deliveries to customers across most of England, in anything from four-pint bottles to bulk loads.
So the trucks are worked intensively – Pattemores is a seven-days-a-week operation and it keeps its vehicles for up to eight years. Its new 26-tonner, which is fitted with a 16,000-litre tank body, is being double-shifted and collecting four full loads of milk each day.
"The back-up from Pentagon, in terms of parts deliveries to our workshop, is first-rate, and our vehicles invariably command good residual values when we finally stand them down, usually for export to Africa," comments Pattemore.
