Musgrave selects Paneltex as official bodywork partner 06 October 2011

Musgrave Retail Partners GB has upgraded part of its 400 strong distribution fleet for the Londis and Budgens retail outlets, using Paneltex for the first time.

The Hull based manufacturer won the deal to supply all the multi-temperature rigid bodywork, as well as all the 8.2m and 9m refrigerated rear steer single axle multi-temperature trailers.

"Prior to finalising our decision, we did extensive research on the company and its product range, talking with existing operators and analysing the strength of their manufacturing skills," comments Graham Thomas, LGV fleet manager at Musgrave.

"We decided that Paneltex would be an ideal potential business partner for us and what's impressed us was, not only their competitive proposal but the fact that they gave us an extremely realistic promise on the delivery dates," he adds.

So far, Paneltex has supplied Musgrave with 12 refrigerated bodies fitted on Mercedes Benz Axor 18-tonne rigid chassis cabs, supplied by S&B Commercials, 19 refrigerated 8.2m trailers and eight 9.2m refrigerated trailers.

All the refrigerated rigids and the single axle trailers have been specified for multi-temperature operation and, once the new fleet acquisitions are in service, the Musgrave distribution fleet will be 100% refrigerated.

"We feel that the use of compact single axle trailers offers greater functionality for us, in terms of meeting intensive delivery schedules, while allowing more efficient preloading of trailers," explains Thomas.

"The shorter semi-trailers allow us better access to many of our retail locations," he adds.

The 8.2 m rigid multi-temperature bodywork supplied by Paneltex on the Mercedes rigid chassis features longitudinal modular lanes to create a one third, two third split in the body.

Refrigeration is provided by Carrier Transicold Supra 850MT refrigeration systems, with DataCOLD 250R temperature recorders. All the rigid vehicles also feature Dhollandia column tail lifts to Musgrave's own specification.

Looking at the multi-temperature refrigerated trailers, Paneltex manufactured both the rear-steer trailer chassis and the temperature-controlled trailer bodywork. The 8.2 m versions are similar to the refrigerated rigid bodywork, featuring modular longitudinal lane systems and using Carrier Transicold's Supra 850MT refrigeration systems.

The remaining eight trailers are all 9.2 m multi-temperature refrigerated trailers, with refrigeration by Carrier Transicold's Vector 1850MT System 3 trailer refrigeration systems. All the trailers have also been fitted with Carrier Transicold DataCOLD 250T temperature recorders, as well as Dhollandia rear column tail lifts.

Author
Brian Tinham

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Related Companies
Paneltex Ltd
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