Grocontinental has opened a £6.5m chilled warehouse and taken delivery of 65 new trucks in response to increasing customer demand.
The trucks, a mixture of Euro-6 Daf XFs and Euro-5 TGX 6x2 units [under derogation], will all be in operation by the end of the year. Five are additions to the fleet and 60 are replacements for older vehicles.
It has also added 10 refrigerated Gray & Adams trailers to the fleet.
Joint MD David Grocott (pictured right with joint MD Linda Grocott) said: “We aim to renew our fleet of vehicles every three to five years to ensure the latest in vehicle technology, economy and reliability.”
Both the warehouse and new fleet form part of an £11m investment made by the Whitchurch, Shropshire operator.
The warehouse has space for 22,000 pallets and the company claims it will shortly be filled to capacity with existing customers’ goods.
Value-added services, including a cheese cutting facility, bread repacking and a fruit and vegetable sorting line, have also been incorporated into the new warehouse.
“Our business growth strategy is to maintain and build a diverse base of customers in terms of size and across the food industry,” Grocott added. “This wide customer base keeps business risk low and has led to significant growth over recent years.”
