Volvo fuel economy and dealer back up impress Brian Yeardley
Back-up from Volvo Dealer Crossroads and excellent fuel economy are two of the main reasons cited by international logistics operator Brian Yeardley Continental Ltd for the company’s continuing acquisition and operation of Volvo FH low-height tractor units on its European and UK deliveries.
According to Brian Yeardley Continental Ltd Managing Director Kevin Hopper, fuel figures of up to 10.65 mpg are being achieved by the company’s latest FH-500 artics on European long-haul duties at 40 tonnes GCW. These results are being aided by the use of Volvo’s Dynafleet telematics system of which the company is an enthusiastic advocate.
All the company’s Volvos are now fitted with Dynafleet, including two 05 plate FHs to which it was retro-fitted by Crossroads. “We were impressed with the FH-480’s fuel performance,” says Kevin Hopper, “but the latest Euro 5, thirteen litre 500 has improved even on that.”
Brian Yeardley Continental Ltd are currently using a Dynafleet package which includes remote downloading of digital-tachograph cards, driver and vehicle performance data, fuel economy and environmental reports on carbon emissions.
The package also utilises Geofencing and the tracking facility produces ‘snail-trails’ as a security measure to identify deviations from specified routes.
Three new FH-500 4x2 tractor units have recently gone into service and since 2009; a total of 14 low-height FHs have joined the distinctive red and white liveried fleet, including 2 premium quality, used trucks which were also sourced from Crossroads. The latter are on an Operating Lease from Volvo Financial Services and 24-month Preventive Maintenance contracts with Crossroads.
“We listened to what our customers, our drivers and the business needed to enable us to deliver a cost effective, reliable, quality logistics solution,” says Managing Director Kevin Hopper, adding, “Our customers expect both reliability and innovation from us. As a result, we worked closely with Volvo and Crossroads to tailor the specification of the latest low-height tractor units to meet our specific needs – from the fitment and monitoring of Dynafleet, to help us manage fuel costs and environmental performance, down to specifying snow chains, separate air conditioning and gas detectors and a panic button linked to our Head Office base, to protect our drivers.”
As part of the company’s focus on quality, of which the decision to operate Volvo trucks is an integral part, says Kevin Hopper, Brian Yeardley Continental Ltd were awarded the Safety and Quality Assessment System (SQAS) accreditation in January 2010. This is a system to evaluate the quality, safety, security and environmental performance of logistics service providers and chemical distributors via independent assessors.
“We’re driving efficiencies and quality through the business,” says Kevin, “We always scrutinise costs very carefully, but are also very focused on quality of service and the quality of the equipment we use is paramount. We use Krone straight frame mega-cube trailers which are specified with knife-proof, armoured curtains, which are pretty much as secure as a box van. The Krone trailers come with Load Securing certification to the latest EN12462/XL standard which is the toughest in Europe. When coupled to our Volvo FHs, we believe we can provide our customers with a highly reliable, innovative and cost effective means of delivery for the widest variety of products.”
