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Leading frozen food distributor Yearsley Group is trying a new trucking flavour in the shape of five Mercedes Actros tractor units.
The company runs a fleet of over 200 temperature-controlled vehicles. Although it has long experience of running Mercedes Atego rigids at 12 and 15 tonnes, Yearsley has traditionally favoured Swedish-built tractors.
It chose the Actros on this occasion after an impressive performance by a trial unit. All 460hp 2546 models, its five new Mercedes were supplied by dealer Enza, of Trafford Park, Manchester.
“We’ve always been happy with our Mercedes rigids, and the Actros demonstrator proved fuel-efficient so we decided to try these Mercedes tractors,” says Operations Director Edward Yearsley.
“We will now assess them over the longer term against the rest of our fleet,” he continues. “We’re also looking into a fleet management system for our trucks, to monitor deliveries and collections and provide detailed information on fuel use, braking, acceleration, engine idling time and other factors. That should help us build a more detailed picture of the vehicles’ cost-effectiveness, as well as helping us to work more efficiently overall.”
The new Actros are all fitted with Mercedes PowerShift 12-speed automated transmissions. “We favour auto ’boxes as they make the drivers’ lives easier and help reduce running costs,” says Mr Yearsley.
“We’ll also be monitoring the performance of the dealer. Enza have invested heavily in their premises and the Trafford Park site is conveniently located for us, so we wanted to give them a chance and see how well they look after us.”
The Yearsley Group is based in Heywood, Greater Manchester, and operates a network of depots nationwide. The Actros are all double-shifted, seven days a week, typically trunking between depots by night and delivering to RDCs during the day. |
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