Davies fleet takes first Volvos

By Andy Stewart
Photography Volvo Trucks
Two new Volvos – including a flagship FH16-750 – have joined the fleet of Glossop, North-West England-based haulier David G Davies & Sons Ltd, marking the first ever Volvo trucks to enter service with the family-owned and managed company.

Supplied by Thomas Hardie Commercials at Trafford Park, Manchester, the trucks have led to the operator placing additional orders for a 26-tonne GVW FH-420 rigid with Globetrotter cab and another FH-460 tractor unit. The extra orders will bring the total of new Volvos in the fleet to four.

While the other trucks are replacements, the FH16-750 is an additional vehicle on the David G Davies fleet.

Company MD, Chris Davies, said the new Volvos are performing well on fuel: “Although we run with a variety of trailers, including some 4.6 m high box vans, we’re achieving 8.9 mpg with the FH16-750. The FH-460 is returning between 9 and 9.3 mpg.”

The David G Davies & Sons fleet of around 15 trucks contains both 4×2 and 6×2 tractor units. All the Volvos were specified with the three-axle configuration. “With the type of contracts the trucks are engaged on,” Davies said, “which include packaging materials and polystyrene, they tend to ‘cube-out’ before they reach maximum gross weight. In that respect, we can operate 4×2 tractor units at lower gross weights.

“However, we made the decision to go with the 6×2 as the residual values are better. Resale value is an important consideration. We keep our top-spec ‘show trucks’ like the FH16-750 for three years. Other vehicles are sold when they are four years old.”

Davies’ new trucks are equipped with Volvo’s topography-reading I-See software and the I-Shift automated transmission.