New Mercedes-Benz Dealer Rossetts Commercials facility opens

Mercedes-Benz Vans Dealer Rossetts Commercials has opened a new trade parts distribution centre in Crawley, West Sussex.

The facility on Spindle Way has 3,000 square foot of storage space over two floors, allowing Rossetts Commercials to hold genuine parts for Mercedes-Benz vans, Mercedes-Benz and FUSO trucks, it said.

Mercedes-Benz Vans said Rossetts Commercials launched its centralised hub in response to an increase in customer demand.

Paul Mitchell, group parts manager at Rossetts Commercials, said: “The decision to consolidate our trade parts operation on a single site allows us to provide this section of the customer base with better, more efficient support.

“At the same time, it’s given branch-based colleagues an opportunity to breathe again, and to focus on delivering the enhanced levels of service that will enable them to grow their retail sales.”

Ringway Jacobs adopts video-enabled lone worker service 

Highway Services provider, Ringway Jacobs, has adopted a video-enabled lone worker service to help safeguard drivers.  

Ringway Jacobs said its health and safety and fleet departments teamed up with Peoplesafe and SureCam to roll-out the integrated safety solution, by using a mobile phone app that enables the benefits of lone worker protection with those of video telematics.

The company will integrate the service with dual facing, connected dashcams fitted on 163 vans and specialist vehicles last year. This will enable footage to be viewed direct from the cameras fitted on the vehicles in the event of an alarm being raised. 

Lone workers will scan a QR code when entering a vehicle to register a unique ID and confirm who is driving. This will enable controllers at Peoplesafe’s alarm receiving centre (ARC) to access both audio and video, as well as incident data via its portal, when an incident is reported such as injury, illness or an act of violence.

This will include footage from forward-and rear-facing vehicle cameras, providing immediate visual insight into what has happened.

The company said the initiative will help increase compliance of its lone worker processes and extend and enhance the levels of protection it provides to drivers in and out of vehicle.

Goodyear announces TruckForce Excellence Award winners

Goodyear has announced the next five TruckForce Excellence Award titleholders.

Barking Tyre Services, a UK-based tire-fitting service has been recognised for strong customer collaboration in implementing the Goodyear Total Mobility package and the online eJob process with new customers.

Polish service provider Wulgumex has also been recognised for its close collaboration with the Goodyear fleet team, attracting new fleet customers in the quarter.

Two partners in the international Vulco network have also been recognised by Goodyear for outstanding service.

The French Vulco DOME opened a branch improving TruckForce’s coverage in central France, reducing service times for customers in the Clermont-Ferrand area.

Goodyear said Spanish partner, Navaliegos Motor, came out ‘very high’ in the audit, while extending its operations through adopting the Goodyear Proactive Solutions retail model and delivering its first Goodyear TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) contract to a local fleet.

Hungarian Premio partner Kiss Gumi near Budapest has been selected as the fifth award winner. As an eJob user in Eastern Europe - provides service coverage to help strengthen Goodyear’s fleet support package to international customers.

The TruckForce Excellence Awards programme was launched by Goodyear earlier this year to recognise exceptional service across the pan-European TruckForce network.

Montgomery Distribution £1m new depot investment 

Montgomery Distribution, a member of Palletways, part of JSE-listed Imperial Logistics (Imperial) has invested more than £1 million to relocate to a new depot. 

The company said the new depot boasts increased storage to accommodate more than 5,000 pallets, as well as closer links to the M1, M6 and A14, enabling easier access to its customers.

Pallet movements at the 24-hour operation have increased by 100%, it said, and the company expects to increase this to double over the coming months.

Additionally, Montgomery Distribution has also acquired 25 Scania Vehicles and 23 latest generation forklift trucks across its regional depots in Belfast, Leeds, Preston and Rugby.

Steven McBride, managing director at Montgomery Distribution, said “Despite the challenges of recent times, our logistics services continued, and our team worked exceptionally hard to keep vital shipments moving.

“The current climate places an even greater level of importance on efficient collections and deliveries and is the driver behind this significant recent investment.”

Hulsteins connects to solar power for diesel-free cooling 

Sweden/UK transport refrigeration manufacturers, Hultsteins have teamed up with TRAILAR, transport solar power innovators, to facilitate a ‘free-at-the-point-of-use’ solution for users of their sustainable fridge systems. 

According to the two companies, the technological alliance will provide operators with permanent savings on fuel, maintenance, and emissions.

“Our hydraulic-drive fridge systems draw a small amount of energy from the truck via an engine-mounted PTO.” Says Graham Usher, who looks after Hultsteins sales in the UK and Ireland. “But despite the very small amount of fuel required for this, Hultsteins systems achieve diesel savings of around 80 to 90%, in comparison to a diesel TRU.”

The company said the solar energy captured is fed into the vehicle, reducing the energy required by the engine to run the fridge system.

According to Hultsteins, a typical TRAILAR system for a rigid vehicle saves around 600 litres a year in the UK, while a Hultsteins fridge only requires an average of 250-300 litres running 1,500 hours per year, during road-use.