Woodsides: £4.1m investment in new Volvo fleet
County Antrim-based transport and logistics company Woodside Group has completed the purchase of 45 new Volvo trucks, an investment worth £4.1 million.
Believed to be the largest single fleet vehicle purchase of the last 12 months in Northern Ireland, the new trucks join the 200-strong Woodside fleet to perform a variety of specialist transport functions. The trailer fleet includes curtain-siders, box vans walking floor trailers, liquid tanks, powder tanks and car transporters.
Director Mark Woodside says this is the largest order placed with Volvo in the last 10 years and it is due to a number of factors.
“We have developed a great relationship with Volvo dealer Dennison Commercials which is based five miles away from the Woodside distribution depot and hub – this makes maintenance much more convenient,” says mr Woodside.
“But we were also impressed by the fuel consumption figures of the new Volvo units. We expect at least five years service and an average annual mileage of 140,000 kms from each of these vehicles so fuel economy is a critical criterion.”
Dennison Commercials, which employs 130 people at four plants around Northern Ireland including Ballyclare, Newry, Coleraine and Dungannon, say the vehicles have been delivered with a five-year repair and maintenance package.
“The flexibility of the service agreement offered by Dennisons was an attractive feature of the deal,” says Rob Ireland, truck sales manager at Dennison Commercials.
Dennison also recently undertook the conversion of two Woodside vehicles at the company’s body-shop, transferring existing car transporter superstructures to the new rigid/trailer combination trucks each capable of carrying 13 cars or vans.