Featherstone, West Yorkshire international haulier Brian Yeardley Continental has said it expects “substantial” savings from running a new fleet of 11 Euro-6 trucks from Mercedes-Benz.
The low-ride 4x2 Actros GigaSpace 1848 LSNRL vehicles, all fitted with Merc’s predictive powertrain and high-performance engine brake, were chosen after trials of various makes during which the Merc demonstrator returned more than 10.5mpg over 10,000 miles of long-distance work to southern Italy and Spain, said Yeardley MD Kevin Hopper.
The first of the new trucks went into operation on 1 January with the remainder scheduled to arrive by June. Total investment was over £1m.
A further 20 trucks will be brought onto the Brian Yeardley Continental fleet in the next two years and the likelihood is that all will be Mercs, said Hopper. “We are very happy with Mercedes and its Euro-6 engine,” he commented. “The new trucks will average 2-3mpg more than the vehicles they are to replace, helping us to reduce our running costs and offer our clients more value for money.”
Although the new trucks each cost around £10,000 more than the Euro-5s they are being used to replace, the overall cost savings should cancel out that premium, stressed Hopper. “With savings of 2mpg on fuel, a great deal on the R&M contracts over five years with Merc, and toll and tunnel charges abroad being less for Euro-6, the savings are substantial and over the trucks’ five-year life cancel out the cost difference,” he said.
