Iveco Stralis’ join the largest heavy truck fleet in Wales

Owens Road Services, operators of the largest heavy truck fleet in Wales, has taken delivery of its first three Iveco Stralis Active Space tractor units from local distributor Dragon Truck & Van.

The three Iveco Stralis AS440S48TX/P’s join a fleet of over 250 tractors and 400 trailers and are being double-shifted, with each vehicle expected to cover over 150,000 km a year.

The vehicles join a mixed fleet being used at 44 tonnes to transport fast moving consumable goods on contracts with a number of major supermarkets across the UK. They join a fleet comprising mainly of Volvos, together with a handful of DAF and Scania models.

Les Watts, Compliance Manager at Owens Road Services, explains: “The local dealer placed a ‘seed’ Stralis tractor unit in the fleet for a period of six months and that led to us purchasing the vehicle, together with another two identical units. We are now closely monitoring the vehicles’ combined performance ahead of further fleet purchasing decisions for 2007.

“The Stralis’ have been a hit with our drivers, and you can see by the way they go about their daily work that they are enjoying their time in the Active Space cabs,” he adds.

The new vehicles mark the first trucks in the Owens Road Services fleet to be fitted with digital tachographs, with initial reports from drivers proving to be remarkably popular.

“They feel a lot more confident having the digital tachographs on board since they know exactly how much time they have left at the touch of a button. There was a brief learning curve to overcome in the first few days, but the benefits of the new system are really shining through,” he concludes.

The vehicles are powered by a 12.9 litre Cursor 13 engine which is capable of producing up to 480 hp between 1,530 and 1,900 rev/min and a peak torque of 2,200 Nm between 1,000 and 1,530 rev/min.

Servicing and maintenance will be carried out by Dragon Truck & Van at its main dealership in Cardiff, which is supported by a new 22,000 sq ft satellite dealership on the Merthyr Tydfil Industrial Estate.