C&H (Hauliers) has invested £1.2m in new tractors and moving-floor trailers for its forest products work to meet organic growth in the business and fill the gap left by defunct subcontractors.
The investment in 11 DAF XF105 6x2s; a Mercedes-Benz Actros 6x2 tractor; and 12 Legras moving-floor trailers, follows two major fleet investments last year.
MD Steve Mercer says C&H (Hauliers), part of the Charles Gee Group, is doing more work for paper mills and expects to shift more than two million tonnes of forest products this year - a 10% increase on 2010.
"We are now in a position to continue to serve our forest products customer base, as well as being able to address the new business enquiries we were previously unable to satisfy," he says.
The current fleet consists of 98 tractors and 278 trailers, and Mercer will bring in another 50 trailers over the next five years.
Until recently, subcontractors made up 40% of C&H's work, but that has fallen to 35%. "With so many operators going bust we have had little choice but to fill the gap ourselves," says Mercer.
"We have also had a lot of enquiries for moving food waste," he adds. "We are seriously thinking about it because landfill is no longer an option in the UK. I am happy to put a vehicle on food waste on a non-contract basis to look at it."
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