New Axors do the rounds for Circle Express
The UK’s leading overnight distributor of air freight is flying high once again, after taking delivery of four new Mercedes-Benz 18-tonners.
The trucks wear the striking colours of Circle Express, which has headquarters at Langley, near Heathrow, and operates eight depots close to other airports.
All Axor 1824 models, they arrived via Heathrow dealer Rygor Commercials and are fitted with curtainside bodies by Altrincham-based Cartwright Group. Two are on full air suspension and fitted with unusually high ‘Q7’ curtainside bodies for handling aircraft pallets, while the other two have high-roofed sleeper cabs and are EXII-certified to carry explosives – Circle Express is also an ADR operator experienced in handling dangerous goods and radioactive cargoes such as cancer drugs.
Like every other new vehicle that Circle Express has acquired in the last year – including five Actros Long Distance tractor units – they are also the subject of contract hire deals with Mercedes-Benz CharterWay, the commercial vehicle finance arm of Daimler AG.
Circle Express typically moves up to 400 tonnes of air freight each night, and makes between 2,000 and 2,500 next-day deliveries, ranging in size from a single kilo to 20 tonnes. The company serves all of the main air freight agencies and has some 1,200 clients within a five-mile radius of Heathrow alone!
Fleet Director Nick Hedderly has been with Circle Express since its formation 28 years ago, and is responsible for a Mercedes-dominated fleet of more than 100 vehicles, the majority of them 18-tonne rigids – some of which work with drawbar trailers – and tractor units.
“Mercedes-Benz vehicles are fuel efficient, popular with our drivers and outstandingly reliable,” affirmed Mr Hedderly. “But I’m also realistic enough to concede that it’s difficult to buy a genuinely bad truck from any manufacturer these days, so where Mercedes-Benz really differentiates itself from the competition is in the quality of its service and back-up.
“When we’ve suffered breakdowns, as you always will with vehicles that are working round-the-clock, the response has invariably been superb. Dealers have responded promptly and we’ve had regular updates throughout the progress of the incident.”
He continued: “Some companies merely pay lip service to customer service but it’s obvious that truck sales executive Dave Gardner and his colleagues at Rygor really care about our business.
“So, too, does our client services manager Paul Mongston, and his colleagues at Mercedes-Benz CharterWay. We have such a good relationship with them that they’ll always do their level best to accommodate us; we don’t even have to ask, they just do it. This ‘can do’ attitude seems to permeate their entire operation, and reassures me that we’re in safe hands.”
For more information, visit circleexpress.co.uk.
