The new Actros has an overall height of 4.2m but thanks to its low frame a loading aperture that is just under 2.75m high. As a result, it is able to carry no fewer than 60 of the Euro containers used by PRM Green Technologies. Stacked in three decks, each container is 800mm-high and has a volume capacity of more than 500 litres.
Like its three-year-old predecessor, the new vehicle was supplied by dealer Midlands Truck & Van. Once again, the operator chose a 2540 LnR model with ClassicSpace L-cab, 10.7-litre in-line six-cylinder engine producing 290 kW (389bhp), and single-tyred trailing axle.
And as before, the curtainside body is by Fred Smith & Sons, of West Bromwich, while the six-wheeler is finished in black paintwork applied at the Mercedes-Benz factory.
The company, which operates from headquarters in Cannock, Staffordshire, provides specialised IT equipment recycling and secure data destruction services for customers from across the commercial and public sectors.
A third-party carrier was previously responsible for transporting consignments from those outbases to its headquarters for processing. However, the company acquired its first Actros when the financial case for taking this function in-house became compelling. Continued growth has now prompted the investment in a second truck.
Tim Hawkins, who founded PRM Green Technologies with co-director Paul Mullett in 2009, recalled: “When we started out on this road three years ago we invited quotations from all of the major manufacturers. Midlands Truck & Van’s was the best response. It was able to offer the low-height chassis that gave us the headroom we needed, while the finance rates were also very attractive. We thought Mercedes-Benz would be the most expensive, but because the residual value on the vehicle was so high the opposite was true.”