Dutch truck-maker DAF has won an £11.7m order from Carlsberg UK to supply 98 new trucks for its in-house national distribution service after an open tender.
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 the brewer’s RDCs across the country, doing multi-drop deliveries of beer and associated items, such as gas cylinders.
The 98 vehicles include 15-tonne and 18-tonne LF rigids, plus 26-tonne CF and 6×2 tractors – all sporting Carlsberg UK’s new hop leaf livery. The CF tractor units are expected to do around 130,000 km each per year, and around 60,000 km each for the LF and CF rigids on more local deliveries.
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.
Thirty of the vehicles were also specified with three-seat cabs, so the firm’s driver training programme can train two people at a time.
“Driver feedback about the ride quality, cab and drivability has been really positive,” said Carlsberg UK national fleet engineer, Andrew Davis. “Plus there’s even some competitiveness to get the most efficient driving scores from the DPA [Driver Performance Assist] system.”
