Fleet Business
Civica, a provider of specialist systems and business process services that help organisations around the world to transform the way they work, and GreenRoad, the leader in driver performance and safety management, have announced a partnership to help organisations reduce maintenance costs, fuel spend and minimise accidents.
FleetMatics GPS has illustrated how its systems have been used to improve the cost efficiency of businesses’ fleets. Growing customer demand led Surrey boiler services company, B&K Boilers Services to employ FleetMatics’ fleet management solutions for commercial fleet vehicles. The company employs 10 registered ‘Gas Safe’ fitters and their management depended on phone calls and check-ins at the office: “As each fitter can complete up to 10 jobs every day, that’s a lot of calls to answer in a week,” said Mr Worthington, B&K Boiler Services Owner. Since fitting the FleetMatics GPS fleet tracking system, Worthington has made scheduling of jobs more efficient, and he can better manage his fitters.
GITI Tire (UK) Ltd. has won a sole supplier agreement with Bartrums Warehousing and Distribution. Operating over 400 motives and trailers, the Suffolk-based transport company specialises in haulage, warehousing and distribution.
With a clear focus on maximizing economy and performance the Bartrum Group has made a significant investment in new vehicles and equipment utilising the latest in telematics technology and maintained to the highest standards by their in-house purpose built maintenance and repair centre, Trumbar Truck Care Ltd.
International supply chain operator, Panalpina World Transport has signed an agreement with Michelin and ATS Euromaster. The tyre policy for its UK-based road fleet, which operates as far afield as mainland Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, Cyprus and Africa, will mean the tyre service company will supply, service and maintain Michelin tyres across the company’s 40 trucks and 80 trailers. The company’s UK fleet is based between depots in Aberdeen and Great Yarmouth.
Goodyear Dunlop has launched a new web-based Fuel Efficiency Calculator, modelling the conditions under which Europe’s road haulers operate to predict the effect tyre choice, investments in driver training, and various aerodynamic retrofit solutions will have on fuel bills and companies’ environmental credentials. The calculator was developed alongside Panteia/NEA, which provided detailed market information from across Europe for increased accuracy. It is available free of charge to any European fleet operator or interested person.
Bad news for hauliers, as the price of diesel has hit a record high having rocketed by 10 pence per litre (ppl) in just 12 months – an inflation-busting 7 per cent rise – reports RMI Petrol.
The increase leaves diesel at 143.05 pence per litre (ppl), a level that could derail Government plans to curb inflation, is a disaster for motorists, and puts the livelihoods of hundreds of fuel retailers at further risk says RMI Petrol Chairman Brian Madderson.
During January Hankook Tire Europe began rolling out its new truck breakdown service, "Hankook Road Assist 24h". Customers in three markets – Germany, France and Spain – initially benefit from the service’s launch, and Hankook says the service will be extended to fleets in other European countries in the short term. Hankook’s existing national truck breakdown services will be integrated into the new pan-European breakdown service. Fleet customers can utilise Hankook Road Assist 24h regardless of their current choice of tyre, Hankook adds.
The Bandvulc Group reports that Cherwell District Council has followed its neighbour Oxford City’s example and entered into a new tyre agreement with the company, which will be managed by Bandvulc Tyre Contracts. This contract covers more than 70 pieces of equipment including 18 refuse and recycling vehicles; these will operate on Bandvulc’s Wastemaster products, a tyre Bandvulc says was specifically developed for the waste sector and is designed to resist kerb scrubbing. Other vehicles in the Cherwell fleet vehicles will also adopt products from the Bandvulc range.
Bridgestone Europe has signed an exclusivity agreement to supply tyres to BMW Driving Experience, a programme that provides specialised training programmes to improve driver skills and safety. The tyre manufacturer will fit its tyres to the BMW Driving Experience fleet of BMW 1-Series, 3-Series, X5 and X6 vehicles, in addition to the range of high-performance BMW M models.
Today trucks carry some three-quarters of all freight transported in Europe and road freight is projected to grow a further 60 per cent over the coming three decades. Yet all is not blue skies and smooth sailing within the sector; according to a report published by Goodyear Dunlop, as many as 15 per cent of European hauliers worry they may be out of business within eight years due to increasing environmental regulation unless substantial progress towards improving fleet fuel efficiency occurs. The 44-page document, titled ‘The Road to 2020’, was released in tandem with a fleet symposium the tyre maker staged in Brussels on 25 January.
UK vehicle tracking, telematics and systems integration, Isotrak has announced an open forum event at its Milton Keynes head office for LGV fleet operators. The event will be run as an open forum, chaired by Isotrak’s product manager, Jon Hannah, who will encourage an open discussion to provide operations and logistics personnel with the opportunity to gain insight into operational issues faced by similar organisations and to contribute actively to the agenda topics.
Goodyear Dunlop has launched a website and related Twitter feed to provide fuel efficiency information to fleets. The site will offer the company’s tips on saving fuel, best practice case studies in green fleet management, and details on Goodyear Dunlop’s upcoming fleet symposium ‘Driving fuel efficiency in Europe’s road freight transport’. The event will take place in Brussels, Belgium on 25 January.
Catching up on the back log after the Christmas and New Year breaks, subscribers can now view the November issue of Tyres & Accessories online. The read the news, features and reviews contained with this editions pages (which this month focus on motorsport and the fleet business), simply click more now.
ATS Euromaster and Michelin have renewed their contract with full service leasing specialist Arval, whose growing fleet numbers approximately 58,000 maintained contract hire cars and vans. The new contract lasts until the end of 2014.
As of 1 January Marc Preedy will take over from Nigel Sowerby as Goodyear Dunlop’s Commercial business unit director for the UK and Ireland. In announcing the customer strategy manager’s promotion, Goodyear Dunlop states the appointment “recognises Marc’s major contribution to the business since his recruitment just two years ago.”
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