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A detailed analysis of the savings to be made on Continental road tolls helped to persuade Reading-based pharmaceuticals carrier Pulleyn Transport to skip Euro 4 and buy Euro 5 trucks instead.
Its first three BlueTec® Euro 5 Mercedes Actros 2546 Executives commanded a price premium of £1,000 apiece in comparison to their Euro 4 equivalents.
However, Pulleyn’s research confirmed that it would very quickly recoup this sum, because the Euro 5 vehicles’ lower emissions mean they attract reduced toll charges, particularly in Germany, and because they promise to be more fuel-efficient.
Pulleyn has also just ordered a further 11 Euro 5 Actros from Aldershot dealer Rossetts Commercials. Again range-topping Executive models, with flat-floored, air-conditioned MegaSpace cabs, and new Mercedes PowerShift automated transmissions, these will replace its remaining DAFs, making Pulleyn’s an all-Mercedes fleet for the first time.
The company bought its first Mercedes Actros in 2003, having operated DAFs for many years. Today, 30 of its 40 tractors, and all but three of its 12 rigids, wear the three-pointed star.
Like their predecessors, Pulleyn’s latest tractor units are the subject of five-year Mercedes-Benz repair and maintenance contracts with guaranteed ‘buy-backs’ when these expire.
The company specialises in transporting pharmaceutical goods that require sensitive handling. Its latest Actros are working with new, twin-deck, dual compartment Chereau refrigerated trailers, which have highly sophisticated temperature monitoring systems and are satellite-linked for real time temperature recording. Also fitted with two refrigerator engines, each with twin evaporators, these trailers cost some £90,000 apiece.
Managing Director Adrian Pulleyn says: “We looked carefully at all sorts of factors before placing our latest order for new vehicles.
“If you were only making the occasional run over to Europe then it would be difficult to justify paying the extra for a Euro 5 vehicle. However, most of our work involves sending vehicles across the Channel; indeed, I would estimate that at any one time 90 per cent of our trucks are on the Continent.”
Mr Pulleyn, who founded his company in 1975, continues: “We’ve not looked back since buying our first Actros – they’ve been brilliant. The drivers really appreciate their big, comfortable cabs while at just under 10mpg the fuel returns are excellent too.”
www.pulleyn.co.uk |
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