| 
|
 |
The ex-drivers behind Immingham-based BSB Transport may take pride in describing their business as “an old-fashioned general haulage company” but the latest additions to their fleet incorporate some of the very latest truck technology.
BSB is running nine new Mercedes Actros 2546 MegaSpace tractor units with fuel-efficient 460hp Euro 4 SCR (selective catalytic reduction) engines and new, 16-speed PowerShift fully automated transmissions. It also has a tenth on order.
Supplied by H&L Garages, South Killingholme, they are the subject of a comprehensive, three-year contract hire deal with in-house commercial vehicle finance arm Mercedes-Benz CharterWay, which even includes replacement tyres.
Directors Ralph Allen and John Burns-Salmond founded BSB Transport in 1996 and both still drive occasional relief shifts. The company moves shipping containers nationwide, and occasionally onto the Continent, for customers such as DFDS Torline, as well as undertaking a lot of timber and paper distribution.
“We’re certainly not afraid of new ideas and new technology, as our latest order for Mercedes trucks proves,” says Ralph Allen. “But we also like to think of ourselves as an old-fashioned general haulage company, with all that this implies in terms of service and the commitments that John and I give personally to our customers.”
BSB has traditionally preferred Swedish-built trucks but today 12 of its 22 tractors wear the three-pointed star. The company bought its first Mercedes, also an Actros, from H&L in 2003, returning last September for another couple; one came with the standard Telligent® 16-speed manual gearbox, the other with the Autotrans automated transmission.
So impressed were the co-directors with this two-pedal system that they decided to specify their latest Actros with the Mercedes PowerShift transmission that recently succeeded it. Faster, smoother and more reliable than Autotrans, PowerShift is also significantly lighter because it relies on sophisticated control electronics rather than relatively heavy mechanical components.
John Burns-Salmond adds: “We also chose the Actros with top-of-the-range, flat-floored MegaSpace cab to help us attract and retain the best drivers, and the Mercedes PowerShift transmission is proving very popular too because it makes their lives so easy.” |
| | |
Models
Your toolkit