Mercedes-Benz trucks are on the pillow case
Pillow and quilt manufacturer Fogarty can rest easy when despatching its products to stores, because they travel in a new fleet of Mercedes-Benz trucks.
The company’s latest order included a pair of Actros 1841 Lo-liner rigids, equipped for drawbar operation; the trucks and their trailers are fitted with Don-Bur demountable box bodies.
Fogarty is also now running two new Actros 2544 tractor units with flat-floored MegaSpace cabs, an Axor 2543 tractor and a trio of 18-tonne Axor 1824 rigids. They have lined up alongside another Actros MegaSpace tractor and an Atego 7.5-tonner, which entered service last year.
Fogarty is based in Boston, Lincolnshire, and its Mercedes trucks were supplied by local dealer H&L Garages.
The rigids make multi-drop delivery runs to high-street retail outlets, while the tractors typically service customers that have their own distribution centres. The drawbar rigs, meanwhile, offer added flexibility.
Warehouse & Distribution Manager Paul Painton explained: “We rack up a lot of miles delivering to most of the UK and the drawbar system with demountable boxes allows us to maximise efficiency.
“We typically send the two trucks out on a Monday morning; one heads north and the other south, to some of our furthest drop points. The drivers can drop their trailers and make their deliveries with the rigids alone, so gaining access to customer premises is not an issue. Then, when the truck is empty, they can simply swap the demountable bodies and continue.
“This, of course, means fewer journeys to and from base, which cuts both our fuel costs and our carbon emissions.”
He added: “Comfort is also an important factor on such long trips, and our drivers certainly appreciate the spacious and well-appointed Actros cabs.”
Fogarty can trace its history back to 1877, and has always been based in Boston – today its Havenside site spreads over 26 acres, with 480,000 square feet of covered space.
The new arrivals have replaced a batch of Mercedes-Benz trucks that had reached the end of a five-year contract hire deal. This time, however, the company has decided to buy its vehicles via a Mercedes-Benz Agility flexible hire purchase plan, which includes a guaranteed buy-back value.
“The trucks we stood down still looked smart and had plenty of life left in them,” said Mr Painton. “With the new ones we can decide when to dispose of them – we know from experience they are very well built and extremely reliable, so we fully expect to achieve an operating life of at least seven years.”
He added: “The service we received from H&L sales executive Dave Mitcham was excellent – he put in a lot of hard work to make sure the specifications were correct, and all the vehicles were delivered exactly as ordered.”
For more information, visit fogarty.co.uk.
