Gray & Adams to build 57 bodies for Deli XL

Trailer and truck body manufacturer Gray & Adams has broken into the European export market with an order for 57 multi-temperature bodies from food distributor Deli XL, part of Bidvest Europe. Gray & Adams has a 28-year relationship with Bidvest's UK arm, 3663 First for Foodservice, and has developed sophisticated multi-temperature bodies for its specific operational requirements. The latest Bidvest order is for a total of 177 bodies, comprising 10 for Deli XL in Belgium and 47 in Holland, plus a further 120 for 3663 in the UK.

Calvin Morrice, managing director at Gray & Adams' Dunfermline, Fife division, ascribes the company's first export success to the its ability to deliver advanced designs tailor-made for 3663's multi-drop operation: "The reason for the complexity is that it allows no wasted space and so reduces delivery costs." Thirty of the 3663 bodies will be used on a recent contract win with sandwich retailer Subway, and will enable the equivalent of 3,000 more deliveries per week.

The group's sliding-spine system was first developed for 3663 and includes internal dividing doors with a zig-zag movement and treble-fold mechanism. Manufacturing is a difficult process. Morrice explains: "The Deli XL specification was a challenge to carry four cages across the body, each in its own lane and separate temperature regime. The lanes had to be designed to exact dimensions maximum insulation properties within a tolerance of 2mm per lane and still meet the legal external width of 2.6m, with a minimum legal requirement of 45mm-thick sidewalls."

3663 director of fleet Graham Rennie (winner of Fleet Engineer of the Year at the MT Awards last month) stresses that such details create customer confidence. "No other bodybuilder could manufacture a product to such exact measurements. They are always ahead of the competition in terms of innovation." Meanwhile, Davis Haulage has purchased 50 trailers from Gray & Adams during the past 12 months, with 20 more to follow. The trailers feature bulkheads and twin evaporators for increased flexibility and will be employed on its chilled distribution contract with Tesco.