Arla Foods completes successful trial and updates trailer fleet with Vector 1550 Technology from Carrier Transicold

United Following a successful six-month road trial, Arla Foods, one of the country’s leading dairy companies, has purchased 21 new Vector™ 1550 low-noise trailer refrigeration units from Carrier Transicold. Arla Foods was selected by Carrier Transicold as one of several European fleets to run detailed performance trials of the Vector 1550 unit in 2010 prior to the new model’s launch. Carrier Transicold, a unit of Carrier Corp., the world’s leader in high technology heating, air-conditioning and refrigeration solutions and a business unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), helps improve global transport and shipping temperature control with a complete line of equipment for refrigerated trucks, trailers and containers.

Moving from the trial to purchase phase further establishes Carrier Transicold as the primary supplier of temperature-controlled transport systems for Arla Foods’ refrigerated fleet.

"Specifying Vector 1550 systems is a natural progression for us following the performance of earlier Vector family technology in our fleet," said Gordon Irvine, technical director (distribution), Arla Foods. "Carrier Transicold promised a lighter, more fuel efficient and more cost-effective solution for mono-temperature applications; and that’s exactly what we received. The system is extremely efficient and is a much more optimised unit closer to our operational requirements."

Showcasing Carrier Transicold’s commitment to innovation and sustainability, the Vector 1550 features all-electric technology and meets several challenges of the transport refrigeration industry, including low energy consumption, enhanced environmental performance, and maximum cold-chain protection. The new Vector 1550 units are fitted to single-deck tri-axle Montracon trailers and form part of Arla Foods’ ongoing fleet replacement programme.

Carrier Transicold’s Vector 1550 technology builds on the success of the current Vector 1850 model, already widely used in the Arla Foods fleet. Purpose-designed for mono-temperature applications, the new unit combines a cooling capacity of 14,800 watts with lower fuel consumption. The optimised energy consumption is achieved by a patented combination of a hermetic compressor with an economizer, enabling the use of a 1.5-litre diesel engine compared with the 2.2-litre engine found in the Vector 1850.

In comparison to conventional belt-driven systems, the Vector 1550 units feature Carrier’s patented all-electric technology, which significantly reduces refrigerant leak rates by using fewer parts and joints. In addition, they also offer low fuel consumption, reducing the unit’s overall carbon impact by up to 35 per cent compared to traditional technology – the equivalent of removing 2.8 tonnes of CO2 per unit per year. Using the Vector 1550 in its fleet supports Arla Foods’ environmental strategy, which sets out to achieve a 34 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions in its operations by 2020.

The 21 new units join a 300-plus trailer fleet that will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from Arla Foods’ dairies in Oakthorpe and Hatfield Peverel. They will be used to support the delivery of packaged milk to supermarkets nationwide. Each Vector 1550 system is expected to clock up to 2,500 engine running hours per year, whilst covering more than 140,000 km annually. The trailers are expected to remain in service with Arla Foods for at least eight years.

The Vector 1550 delivery is also combined with a planned 12-month trial of Foretrack™, Carrier Transicold’s GPRS-based fleet management and tracking system.