ArcelorMittal adds a Fuso Canter to its fleet for steel plate deliveries

Global steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal has taken delivery of a Fuso Canter 7C18 to make deliveries of a variety of steel plates from its Birkenhead depot across the North of England.

The 7.5-tonne Canter has been supplied by eStar Truck & Van and will be used to transport goods between large manufacturing customers including the famous Cammell Laird shipyard which is just over a mile away.

“These consignments include profiles cut from plate to exacting measurements, and the deliveries are handled by third-party hauliers. Most of the vehicles leaving the yard are in the 28 to 44-tonne GVW range,” said transport production co-ordinator Elliott Taylor.

“We also receive a significant number of orders from smaller-scale customers, though. They don’t need such heavy items and, very often, their premises are quite tricky to get a truck into. When we decided to invest in a vehicle of our own to handle this work, it was clear we needed something that would give us the biggest ‘bang for our buck’ on payload but also be compact and manoeuvrable enough to get in and out of sites where access is tight.”

The 7C18 Canter has been specified with a 175hp engine, DUONIC dual-clutch automated manual transmission and 20ft platform body by Commercial Body Specialists of Stoke-on-Trent.

Taylor added: “We looked at several alternatives but there was nothing available that could match the 7.5-tonne FUSO Canter. With its aluminium platform body ours can easily carry over four tonnes, which is far ahead of anything else we looked at in the same gross weight category. The compact footprint and tight turning circle make it very agile, so for the sort of deliveries we ask it to perform, the Canter really is extremely well suited. The service from eStar Truck & Van was excellent too. They understood our needs completely and also handled all liaison with the bodybuilder. The service contract package they put together for us means we can budget forwards with confidence, knowing exactly what our running costs for the vehicle will be.”