To accommodate their comprehensive product range, South West company Chaffins Foodservice decided to upgrade two of its current vehicles by swapping the existing twin compartment bodies for new triple compartment refrigerated bodies built by Hull bodybuilder Paneltex.
This is the first time that Chaffins have used Paneltex for its vehicle body requirements and as Ian Daly, transport manager at Chaffins explains, "When we looked at swapping bodies on these trucks, Paneltex came up with the ideal solution. We were able to use their manufacturing facility in Andover for certain work, whilst the new refrigerated bodies were built for us at their factory in Hull."
Two new Paneltex triple compartment refrigerated box bodies have been fitted onto Isuzu 7.5 t chassis cabs and the bodies feature a central longitudinal bulkhead, with two moveable bulkheads, one on either side of the main bulkhead. This enables Chaffins to accommodate a full selection of frozen, chilled and ambient products within one vehicle body. Chaffins anticipate that the vehicle bodies will have a five-year working life, with a possible further second life on a replacement chassis cab after the five-year period.
Both the Isuzu vehicles, with the Paneltex reefer bodies, are working out of the Chaffins Foodservice head office in Redruth, Cornwall and are delivering to customers throughout the South West, mainly in Cornwall and Devon as well as the Scilly Isles.
According to Chris Berridge, managing director, Paneltex, "This deal with Chaffins shows the benefits of our multi-site manufacturing operation in so far as we were able to provide Chaffins with the optimum service to meet with their requirements for body swapping. The initial removal of the existing bodies, and storage of the old bodies, has been handled by Transload in Andover, whilst the manufacture and fitting of the new refrigerated bodies took place at Paneltex in Hull."