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A new fleet of SCR-equipped BlueTec® Euro 5 Mercedes Actros drawbar rigids is hitting all the right notes for leading kitchen, bedroom and bathroom manufacturer Symphony, and its logistics contract distribution partner C Butt.
All 18-tonne Actros 1836L models with Long Distance sleeper cabs, 360hp V6 engines and 1.5-tonne Dhollandia tuckaway tail-lifts, they are returning outstanding mpg figures.
“One’s just spent a couple of days on multi-drop work up and down the hills of north Wales,” reveals Contract Manager Patrick McPhillips. “Our fleet average for drawbar combinations is between 8.5 and 9mpg, so the Mercedes’ performance is impressive. It’s a similar story when running solus – the Actros are typically 25-30 per cent more fuel-efficient.”
Northampton-based C Butt has been working with Symphony since 2002. Mr McPhillips is responsible for more than 80 trucks, most of them French-built. There are 19 7.5-tonners and 12 tractor units but the backbone of the fleet are 18-tonners equipped for drawbar operation. These trucks and their trailers work with some 300 demountable box bodies.
Wellingborough dealer Intercounty Truck and Van has supplied 12 Euro 5 Actros 1836s to date, as well as a Euro 3 model a year ago; a further seven Euro 5 vehicles go on the road in May. The first Mercedes to wear Symphony’s smart ruby red livery, the Actros are working with new trailers and 26ft demountable boxes by Cartwright’s, of Altrincham.
They are based at Symphony’s manufacturing facilities in Leeds, from where they distribute rigid kitchens, and Rotherham, where flat-pack bedrooms and bathrooms are produced. C Butt makes more than 700 Symphony deliveries every week, also employing vehicles outbased in Bellshill; Edmonton, North London; and Quedgeley, Gloucestershire.
The Actros rigids, their trailers and boxes, are the subject of a five-year contract hire deal with Mercedes-Benz CharterWay, the manufacturer’s in-house commercial vehicle finance arm. It is a comprehensive package – even the tyres are covered – with Mercedes-Benz Dealer of the Year Northside Truck and Van maintaining the new fleet at its workshops in Leeds and Sheffield.
Most deliveries are to construction sites operated by major housebuilders, although Symphony also supplies retailers, local authorities and housing associations. Customers can monitor the progress of their order online, via Symphony’s extranet site, while satellite tracking devices fitted to the trucks mean Mr McPhillips and his team know precisely where their vehicles are at all times.
Because of the nature of the product, gross weights fall short of the legally permitted maximums of 18 tonnes for the prime mover, and 26 tonnes gtw for the truck and trailer combinations.
The demountable boxes are loaded while the trucks are out on the road, ensuring quick turnarounds and maximum utilisation of the fleet. And having reached the delivery area, a driver can leave one box behind on his drawbar trailer, make the first set of drops, then return and swap bodies to complete the job.
C Butt and Symphony decided to invest in the three-pointed star after conducting trials involving Euro 3 18-tonners supplied by three manufacturers in 2006. “The Mercedes came out best in terms of driver acceptance and, most importantly, fuel economy,” recalls Mc Phillips, “while CharterWay’s contract hire package was competitively priced.” |
Also taken jointly was the decision to skip Euro 4 and choose vehicles already capable of achieving super-tough Euro 5 EC emissions limits which do not even come into force until 2009, a move that reflects a shared determination to reduce their carbon ‘footprints’.
The announcement that from October 2007 Euro 5 vehicles will get a Reduced Pollution Certificate and, in the case of an 18-tonne rigid, a £370 cut in annual excise duty for the life of the vehicle, also makes for a compelling business case. The Euro 5 Actros carries a retail price premium of around £1,000 over its Euro 4 equivalent, a premium incorporated within CharterWay’s monthly fee that will now be recouped in less than three years. C Butt and Symphony did not know it was coming when they committed to their clean, ‘green’ Mercedes fleet, but The Chancellor’s handout is highly welcome nonetheless.
Mercedes-Benz has achieved Euro 4 and 5 emissions targets through BlueTec SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) technology. The new Actros have special tanks to carry the non-toxic AdBlue reduction agent required in the SCR process to convert pollutant nitrogen oxides into harmless nitrogen and water.
Most other truck manufacturers have also adopted an SCR strategy, although two leading ‘players’ have gone down an alternative route in the form of Exhaust Gas Recirculation. The EGR camp argues that AdBlue represents an unnecessary, additional burden for drivers and operators. But while there’s a debate at Euro 4, at Euro 5 it simply doesn’t arise, because EGR is unable to achieve the tougher limits.
And anyway, as far as Patrick McPhillips is concerned, AdBlue really isn’t an issue. “We’ve installed a 5,000-litre AdBlue tank alongside the diesel pump at Rotherham so topping up is no trouble at all for the drivers,” he confirms. “AdBlue is consumed so slowly that four to five fuel stops may take place before a top-up is required”. |
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