Bristol, UK: Essential Trading has a new 18-tonner with split-body: front fridge box curtainsider rear for ambient goods.
Horton Commercials built the body for a new Scania P-Series with a Carrier Transicold Supra 450 providing refrigeration.
“The refrigerated element of our business began to grow significantly three or four years ago, making a dedicated fridge section on our larger vehicles a necessity,” said Rob Baird, transport manager, Essential Trading Co-operative.
“Carrier has been supplying that equipment from day one; their systems work well with the split bodies and provide the cooling capacity we need, allowing us to collect and deliver a much wider range of produce.”
The new Scania joins a mixed commercial vehicle fleet that includes five 7.5-tonne Isuzu rigids used exclusively for ambient deliveries, alongside two 11-tonne and one 13-tonne Isuzus, a 16-tonne Daf LF and a 26-tonne Volvo drawbar combination that all feature separate refrigerated sections cooled by Carrier equipment.
Carrier Transicold’s Supra 450 provides airflow and refrigeration, even when the truck’s own engine is switched off, so suits multi-drop delivery routes in London where the new truck will be used.
The new vehicle replaces an older Scania rigid with eutectic refrigeration. The new vehicle is capable of transporting between 12 and 14 pallets of ambient produce, with space for around two pallets of chilled goods.
On the road four days a week – two being in London – the new vehicle is expected to clock between 40,000 and 50,000 miles a year and will stay in the company’s commercial vehicle fleet for five years.
One of the largest worker co-operatives in the UK, Essential Trading is an organic and Fairtrade product wholesaler, manufacturing and distributing sustainable wholefoods, ecological household products and cruelty-free body care items across Europe and internationally.
