Trailer engineering trails changing transport market 08 June 2010

Asda recently took delivery of 68 Cheetah aerodynamic moving deck, double-deck trailers from Cartwright, adding to the 173 semi-trailers the retailer bought late last year and bringing its total from Cartwright to well over 1,000.

Chris Hall, Asda's network transport manager, explains that his new double-deckers were built to a different specification that will allow the firm to improve the efficiency of delivering ambient direct food to its stores.

"We chose Cartwright because they were able to offer a number of options that were key for this project," says Hall. "Most previous double-deck purchases have been for depot-to-depot trunking, whereas this was our first significant step into store operations."

Asda's new specification includes a simple, direct drive hydraulic deck with the ability to load pallets and roll-cages on either deck area. "It allows us the flexibility to either unload from the rear or through the side, giving us more options to fully utilise this fleet," says Hall. "And we have included the Cheetah air-kit to maximise fuel efficiency," he adds.

He also indicates that installing aerodynamics is very much part of maintaining Asda's carbon emissions cutting initiative, which has already delivered on its target of 40% across the distribution fleet. "[Aerodynamics] were a significant enabler to this, and the introduction of a double-deck fleet into store deliveries will further reduce our fleet carbon footprint," comments Hall.

Cartwright director Steven Cartwright has another take on this. He believes that Asda's recent choices are indicative of what's happening in much of the transport industry. "The days of high [production] volume vehicles are passing and being replaced by highly specified high-cube trailers, aimed at getting as much in the vehicles as possible for particular operations," he explains.

And, likewise, he adds that aerodynamic units are fast moving into fleet managers' mainstream thinking. "We recently enhanced the Cheetah system – tidied up the underside of the trailer chassis and tapered the body side, as per Asda's package," says Cartwright.

"This year, we'll be introducing another new product, which we're calling Cheetah Fast Pack, with enhancements to the side skirts and half the chassis and roof line sloping towards the back," he adds.

That won't compromise capacity, because of the wedge shaped chassis, and Cartwright says the company will be using its new technology on double decks as well, while also offering high lift adjustable air suspension. "That's being tested at MIRA," he says.

But it doesn't' stop there: many manufacturers are looking at lighter weight and recyclable construction materials, to further improve overall carbon footprint. And Cartwright also indicates that his organisation is increasingly being asked for flexible rigids. He cites units based on DAF 45 7.5 tonners, but also 15 tonne flatbeds with full length tail lifts for Calor Gas and 5.5 tonne mobile showrooms for Snap-on.

All of which means that only bodybuilders with significant flexibility in their production are likely to survive. And not only production: given the economic situation, fleet managers want all the options around rental, R&M contracts and finance, too.

Author
Brian Tinham

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