Delivering the groceries

Schmitz Cargobull has delivered 46 reefers and refrigerated box units to Londis, the independently operated food retailer with 1861 stores, owned by Musgrave Retail Partners GB.

The new trailer fleet will operate out of the three Londis Retail Service Centres in South Elmsall (near Pontefract), Thamesmead (London) and Andover (Hampshire).

The new rigid box units ordered by Londis are the first of their kind to be built by Schmitz Cargobull at the companys UK factory at Harelaw, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The units were introduced into the UK in Spring of this year and have been designed specifically for the growing market for urban food retail deliveries. The box unit itself has a sealed aluminium floor and a steel sub-frame while its side and roof are made from Schmitz Cargobulls FERROPLAST modular steel-skinned panels to keep loads at the desired temperature.

The new Londis  box units and reefers are all subdivided along their length to provide chilled and frozen storage chambers. The reefers are being supplied in lengths of 9.2, 10.9  and 12.6 metres, with the 9.2 and 10.9 metre long models fitted with a command steer axle to allow the trailers to deliver to sites where turning space is at a premium.

Despite the incorporation of the command steer axle, the refrigerated trailers do not exceed an overall external height of 4 metres. The strict 4 metre height limit was imposed because the trailers will have to deliver to some sites, for example,  garage forecourt locations, were headroom is restricted. In addition, those vehicles working out of the Thamesmead Retail Service Centre have to negotiate Londons Blackwall and Rotherhithe road tunnels  which are both unsuitable for high vehicles.

Scott Wharton, Musgrave Retail Partners GBs supply chain director, commented: The majority of the facilities that we deliver are in built-up urban areas or more remote rural locations. Both settings can provide access problems, so we needed a trailer fleet that could match our delivery profile.  The combination of the reefers short vehicle length and low external height gives our fleet far greater flexibility and better access into some of the tighter sites they deliver to and the new trailers are proving very popular with our drivers.