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Sainsbury’s shopped around for the most cost-efficient and environmentally friendly trucks before bagging itself a new fleet of Mercedes Axor tractor units.
So impressed is the supermarket giant with its first consignment of 130 Axor 2540s, which went on the road late last year, that it has now ordered another 200 identical units.
All are powered by BlueTec® Euro 5 SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) engines driving through the latest Mercedes PowerShift 12-speed automated transmissions, and all qualify for Reduced Pollution Certificates, which bring a £500-per-truck saving in Vehicle Excise Duty every year.
To ‘top off’ the high-tech package, each unit also wears the latest air management kit, developed specifically for the Axor by specialist firm Hatcher Components in conjunction with experts from Cranfield University. In tests this has been shown to deliver a remarkable six per cent improvement in fuel consumption over a vehicle with standard air management equipment – figures from real-life applications have delivered similarly impressive results.
The new trucks, which arrived via Bristol dealer Commercial Motors (South West), are owned by Sainsbury’s but operated on its behalf by logistics partner Wincanton. They work from regional distribution centres across the country and supply the full range of goods stocked by Sainsbury’s network of almost 800 stores, which together serve more than 16 million customers every week.
The total fleet numbers around 1,000 trucks which between them travelled 164 million km last year.
“We buy vehicles from other manufacturers too,” says Sainsbury’s Engineering Controller Gary King. “But after completing a full-blown tender exercise, which examined all aspects of vehicle costs over a life of four years, we found that the Mercedes Axor was the most cost-effective of all the SCR-equipped options.
“Our philosophy of sustainability means we look at the complete picture of a truck’s costs, both in financial terms and with regard to its impact on the environment – and of course the two often go hand in hand, as a vehicle that uses less fuel is both cheaper and greener to run.
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“Once you’ve decided to head down the SCR route the next obvious step is to go directly to Euro 5 – it’s really a ‘no-brainer’. Choosing Euro 5 vehicles with NOx sensors not only helps us to minimise our impact on the environment but means they will retain significantly more residual value. This, together with the reduction in VED and its excellent fuel economy, helps to make the Axor’s whole-life cost even more attractive.”
As the ‘greenest’ trucks on the Sainsbury’s fleet, 63 of the new Axor are operating out of the company’s new flagship distribution centre near Northampton, at junction 15a of the M1. The 618,500 sq ft facility was completed in October 2007 and has already won a host of environmental awards.
The warehouse and offices boast innovative features such as a combined heat and power plant, with surplus heat driving the refrigeration of the cold store areas, low energy lighting systems, electricity-generating solar panels on the roof and walls, an extremely airtight construction to help maintain the interior temperature and a roof made from 15 per cent transparent panels, to maximise the use of the available natural light. A rainwater harvesting system capable of saving 16 million litres of water per year has also been devised, while there is also an on-site Resource Recycling Unit.
Meanwhile, both vehicle downtime and miles travelled are kept to a minimum with the help of a dedicated vehicle maintenance unit, staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by local Mercedes-Benz dealer Intercounty Truck & Van. It looks after Sainsbury’s 63 trucks and 120 trailers, as well as third-party contractors’ vehicles which deliver to the site.
“Once again this demonstrates our core value of sustainability,” says Mr King. “We’re extremely pleased that so many sustainable design features have been incorporated into this distribution facility. And our Mercedes Axor fleet is helping to keep its ecological impact as low as possible into the future.” |
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