With three major new contracts ADC invest in Volvo FM9-380

Since winning three major new contracts with The Environment Agency, Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council, specialist drainage company ADC (East Anglia) Ltd has invested in new machinery and equipment, including a new 26-tonne GVW, Volvo FM9-380 6x4 gully-emptier.

The Euro 5-compliant FM, which is an additional vehicle, joins a fleet of 11 other Volvo’s at the company’s base near Marshland St. James, near Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. It is the family-owned company’s first Volvo FM, the others being Volvo FL four-wheelers.

The FM is on a 7-year Gold R&M contract with Volvo Truck and Bus Centre East Anglia, who supplied this and the other Volvo’s in the ADC fleet. Euro 5 was specified to ensure free access to the London LEZ when Stage 2 is implemented. ADC also uses Volvo’s Dynafleet Online with GPS tracking and environmental reporting.

Says Director Steve Paige. “We are doing more and more work for the blue-chip construction companies. They often ask for information as to how we are reducing our carbon footprint and Dynafleet, together with Euro 5, is part of the package of measures we have taken to demonstrate what we are doing to lower the company’s carbon emissions.”

Steve adds. “GPS also allows us to confirm availability of our trucks in the zones we work in. It means that we can react to urgent jobs in a timely manner within the framework of the routine contract work.”

The new FM is equipped with a Globetrotter cab and the sleeper will be in regular use, says Steve, as one job the truck is often used for is drain clearance on retail parks around the country. The driver overnights in the locality and enters the premises in the early hours before the shops open as parked cars make it impossible to access the drains.

ADC’s vehicles are on 24/7 callout to handle emergencies and the FM is expected to operate off-road and in tight access situations. For example, it can be working some miles down a riverbank one day and clearing the drainage infrastructure, as part of the ‘pre-adoption’ process, on a new housing development the next.

Specification of the FM includes I-Shift automated gearbox, B-Ride rear suspension and the chassis is fitted with a Fuller 3,000 gallon suction tank which features a 2,000 cubic feet per minute capacity vacuum pump which is capable of working at a depth of 50 metres.