Iceland, the UK’s leading frozen food specialist, has just added 43 Cartwright multi-temperature refrigerated trailers to its vehicle fleet.
A major retail success story, Iceland has over 1,000 stores throughout the UK as well as owned or franchised stores across Europe and a global export business. The company has been a customer of Cartwright since 2014.
The order is the culmination of a series of collaborative meetings between Iceland, Cartwright and XPO who operate the distribution centres.
Following advice from Cartwright and XPO, Iceland has upgraded its equipment specification from tandem axle to tri-axle trailers having taken into account the operational benefits and residual value advantages.
Specification on the trailers includes a lift axle which aids manoeuvrability when delivering to stores as well as the benefit of improved stability a tri-axle gives. The trailers are equipped with a Thermo King Spectrum fridge and DHollandia tail-lift.
Safety is paramount throughout the Iceland business and the trailers are equipped with key features that support this policy.
The Cartwright trailers are the first of a kind in the Iceland fleet to feature the company’s co-branded livery with Iceland and The Food Warehouse, prominently featured.
The trailers were supplied under a full contract hire package through Cartwright Finance Sales. The trailers will be maintained by Cartwright Fleet Services working together with Iceland’s VMU’s. These additional services are part of a total cost of operation solution from Cartwright.
Dave Rowlands, Iceland’s Operations and Contracts Manager, commented: “We have purchased Cartwright trailers in the past and XPO Logistics also has a relationship with the company, so this much larger order was a real opportunity for them to demonstrate how they could build a considerable number of trailers to the timelines and quality we required.
“The trailers were in service from November 1st, were delivered ahead of time and the quality is good.
Andrew Holliday, National Account Director for Cartwright, commented: “Iceland is a valued customer and we were delighted to be given the opportunity to provide this latest major order for them with an improved specification, new livery and indeed delivery ahead of schedule.
“Our relationship with XPO Logistics, also a highly valued Cartwright customer, enabled us to work together to provide a number of specification features in order to meet Iceland’s operational requirements including the enhanced residual value of the trailers through these additional specification additions”
