Transdek UK, specialist suppliers for the double deck road freight distribution sector, is exhibiting its latest urban double deck trailer for Eddie Stobart at the Freight in the City Expo, Alexandra Palace, London, 27 October 2015. The trailer carries 100% more load than conventional forms of urban freight transport and offers the capability to cut delivery frequencies in half, reducing congestion, noise and pollution.
The free to attend one-day exhibition builds on the inaugural work of Quiet Cities in 2014, giving a wider platform for local authorities, suppliers and freight transport operators to explore ways to make goods deliveries in urban centres as clean, safe and quiet as possible. A series of seminars will also run throughout the day highlighting developments in sustainable urban deliveries.
There is growing economic, as well as environmental, pressure to incorporate new strategies to reduce congestion on the roads. A recent whitepaper published by INRIX and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) suggests that, in comparison to the USA, Germany and France, by 2030, the UK will see the highest annual rise in the cost of congestion (at 66%), with a cost to the country of over £21 billion a year. London is expected to have the fastest growing levels of congestion out of all cities included in the study.
Transdek, who recently won the Temperature Controlled Storage & Distribution Award for Innovation for the development of a new, 50-pallet, multi-temperature double deck trailer, provides a range of specialist products and services to facilitate the integration of high-cube deliveries to town and city centres.
The company developed its range of urban double deck trailers to meet the growing demand for more sustainable forms of urban freight transportation. The trailers carry up to 54 roll cages or 30 pallets, twice that of a typical 18 or 26-tonne rigid, creating the opportunity to slash emissions and congestion by a much as 50%.
This additional volumetric capacity is achieved within the same height profile, or lower, as a standard single deck trailer. Transdek also claims that its urban double deck trailers, with a standard external length of 10.6 metres, are more manoeuvrable than the equivalent rigid trucks.
Tony Sturgess, Head of Trailer Design at Transdek UK, said: “We believe our innovative urban double deck trailer offers a significant improvement to operational capability in city centres. Not only does it give increased load volume, but it has also been purpose built to deal with the daily challenges of urban environments featuring a low-height profile and improved manoeuvrability. We’ve also developed rear door and taillift designs specifically adapted for the urban environment, which offer a safer, quieter and more secure operation.
“Where retail outlets do not have the capacity to take a full trailer delivery, we see that this urban double decker will provide the opportunity for highly efficient multi drop deliveries. The potential for this to increase efficiencies on collaborative projects between groups of retailers operating out of urban consolidation centres is also really exciting.
“Most operators think that loads should be consolidated out of town, with onward deliveries in small trucks and vans. This is an effective way of increasing vehicle fill and reducing the number of vehicles on urban roads, but will still leave a growing number of low-volume freight vehicles on the streets. However quiet and green these vehicles are, this will not help the issue of congestion.
“Transdek’s approach is different. We believe that volume is the core component to increasing overall logistics efficiency and reducing congestion. If each urban double deck trailer on the roads is able to remove one rigid, or several smaller trucks, this opens up the potential to really tackle future congestion issues.
“We are very open to working with other technologies to further increase both the safety and environmental efficiency of these vehicles. Combine this with out-of-hours deliveries, and it’s a real winning formula.”