DB Schenker’s FL measures up on the straight and narrow

Volvo Truck and Bus Centre East Anglia recently worked very closely with customer DB Schenker to provide a solution enabling deliveries to specific retail outlets in Central London to be made more efficiently, using the most productive standard vehicle possible - as opposed to a specialist truck.

The problematic delivery point is in Covent Garden where DB Schenker needed a truck which could manoeuvre in and out of the extremely narrow confines of roads in the Neal Street area.

Although deliveries are made at times to avoid congestion, access to Neal Street in particular is restricted by very tight entry and exit. The road itself is separated from the pavement by bollards on both sides down its length.

Deliveries had previously been made using 7.5 tonne GVW trucks. However, Volvo Truck and Bus Centre East Anglia presented the case to Schenker that an FL at 12 tonnes GVW would also be capable of successfully making the drop – even when equipped with a 20 foot body.

They backed up their claim by providing turning circle and manoeuvrability diagrams for the specified truck. But what helped win the order for Volvo was that the Dealer sent someone to physically measure access to the street to prove that the 12 tonne FL would be capable of delivering the goods.

Logistics Contract Manager, Chris Keogh, DB Schenker Ltd., admitted that Volvo Truck and Bus Centre East Anglia’s attention to detail, coupled to the fact that they went the ‘extra mile’, helped tip the balance in their favour. “Apart from Volvo being very competitive in terms of lifetime costs and national back-up, we were impressed with their attention to detail and professionalism,” he explained.

“Specifying the 12 tonne GVW FL equipped with a longer body, as opposed to a 7.5 tonne truck, has provided extra capacity which enables the truck to be used on other deliveries as well as those in Central London which demand something extra when it comes to manoeuvrability.”