acumen LST

Acumen Distribution is adding five new longer semi-trailers to its fleet, which will bring its collection of 15.65m trailers to 24 vehicles.

The operator has participated in the DfT's longer semi-trailer trial from its inception, and Acumen operations director Naiem Ashraf said that when the opportunity for more permits arose, he "seized it with both hands".

"We have 19 longer semi-trailers currently running, saving at least 150,000 road miles and 198 tonnes of CO2 per year, when compared to using standard length curtainsiders," he said.

The five new trailers, being built by SDC, are speculative builds, but Ashraf is confident the operator will find the volume to fill the vehicles.

He said: “We’re taking these next five longer trailers speculatively, but we expect to deploy them on new contracts quickly.

“We know that with longer semi-trailers we can start saving a customer money from day one, and with a finite number of 15.65m trailers in the market, they are a real asset.”

When the new trailers begin work for Acumen Distribution, around 25% of its curtainsider fleet will be longer semi-trailers.

In January this year the DfT announced that the longer semi-trailer trial, originally billed to end in 2022, would run until 2027. As part of this extension, permits were issued for an extra 1,000 LSTs.

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