ACS&T has increased its fleet of 30-pallet refrigerated trailers to 18, following two years of service development trials with three trailers for customer and frozen food manufacturer McCain.
The trial was based around assisting McCain in reducing its carbon emissions and miles travelled per journey.
The trailers are built to the new 15.65m length as part of an on-going research project being conducted by the Department for Transport into the economic and environmental benefits of longer semi-trailers.
Malcolm Johnstone, managing director of ACS&T, said: “These trailers offer great cost savings – they can carry up to 30 pallets, which is four more than the standard 13.6m trailer. This represents a 15 per cent increase in productivity.”
The new trailers will be based at the Scarborough depot, where mainly they will be used to deliver food products from McCain’s production centre there to distribution centres in Hemel Hempstead and Heywood.
They will also provide direct distribution to retail distribution centres, as well as more economic movement between production sites.
Colin Jenkinson, associate director customer supply at McCain, said: “We are pleased that ACS&T is helping us achieve our environmental objectives.”
