Carlsberg orders 98 trucks for in-house DC
After a competitive open tender, DAF has won an £11.7m order from Carlsberg UK for 98 new trucks for its in-house national distribution service.
Representing one of DAF’s biggest and most prestigious orders, the new vehicles will be the first DAF trucks on Carlsberg UK’s distribution fleet for 10 years, and will be based at eight of Carlsberg UK’s regional distribution centres across the UK doing multi-drop deliveries of beer, plus associated items such as gas cylinders.
DAF was able to provide vehicles that perfectly matched Carlsberg UK’s particular safety and environmental requirements, and is supplying them via a six year ‘Hire Plus’ agreement from its own PACCAR Financial.
The 98 vehicles include 15t and 18t LF rigid models, plus 26t CF and 6×2 tractors all sporting Carlsberg UK’s new hop leaf livery. The CF tractor units are expected to do an annual mileage of around 130,000 km each, and around 60,000 km each for the LF and CF rigid models doing more local deliveries, making a total annual mileage in excess of four million kilometres for the new vehicles, which is why durability and a strong aftersales support from the DAF dealer network was a key reason why Carlsberg UK chose DAF this time.
Carlsberg UK is one of the only major beer and beverage businesses to retain its own drivers and in-house national distribution service, so used feedback from its drivers and trainers to specifically tailor the new trucks to the way it works, such as needing a low load height for unloading, and complying with strict load security safety standards.
The curtainside bodies were designed to comply with the EN 12642XL load security standard, and to ensure the load stays inside the vehicle in the event of emergency braking or an accident, Carlsberg UK specified its own design of bungee restraint system able to withstand a 1g forward load restraint. The bespoke design also maximised the payload available by including safe storage of gas cylinders and trays which the trucks also carry.
Additional safety features fitted include anti-slip surfaces for the floor, tailgate lift and side guards which also act as access steps, side cameras, a forward camera to record any road incidents and an audible turning warning to alert pedestrians, cyclists and any other road users.
They also utilise specific tyre size and suspension settings with a bespoke interlaced body sub-frame to achieve the required, low 1100mm height for loading and unloading.
In addition, three-seat cabs were specified for 30 of the vehicles, so the Carlsberg UK driver training programme can train two drivers at a time, plus any new starters or agency staff can go out with the experienced two man crew usually used.
