Arla’s combination trucks on the road
Arla Foods in the UK has driven forward another dairy industry first as its bespoke combination trailer takes to the road. Arla’s new hybrid trailer is half milk tanker, half refrigerated container. Paul Lloyd, vice president of logistics at Arla, explains: “Arla’s logistics network is one of the largest in the UK, responsible for over 4,000 daily deliveries to stores and regional distribution centres nationwide. The new trailer is just one of many solutions we are delivering to ensure our carbon output and costs are as low as possible.”
In line with the company’s Closer to Nature plans, which include a reduction in CO2 emissions by 34 per cent by 2020, the trailer will cut the number of road miles travelled by the company as it enables the collection of milk from farms as well as the delivery of finished product to stores. “There were occasions when we were sending out a vehicle full of finished product then later sending out an empty milk tanker to collect milk,” Gordon Irvine, Arla’s group fleet director says. “They could both travel the same route, but carry a load in the opposite direction. We aren’t the only company faced with this dilemma but we are the first to deliver a solution and put one of the country’s most innovative trailers on the road.”
The exterior view of the trailer is very similar to a standard double deck trailer but standing at 4.3 metres, it is 30cm taller than a standard refrigerated trailer. It also has low profile running gear with a lowered step-frame section on the bottom deck to accommodate the milk tank. The milk tank can hold approximately 19,000 litres and the trailer can accommodate approximately 85 milk cages or 22 pallets. Two years in the making, it is now being trialled out of Arla’s transport hub in Stourton using a new lightweight Scania tractor and has visited the farm of Arla Foods Milk Partnership member, Peter Corner in Northallerton.
In addition to Arla’s Closer to Nature slogan, the livery of the trailer displays the message: ‘this combination trailer helps us to protect nature for tomorrow’.
