Sainsbury's signs up Fraikin for home delivery fleet

Sainsbury’s has signed up vehicle rental company Fraikin to manage and maintain 220 of its home delivery vehicles in the South-East.

Under the terms of the deal, Fraikin will provide  fleet management for each of the 3.5-tonne vehicles, which operate across an estate of 23 stores (operating within an 80-mile radius), as well as providing a recovery and repair service with guaranteed 90 minute response time.

Sainsbury’s says a key objective of the deal is minimising vehicle downtime to help it maintain a constant level of delivery service throughout the year.

Peter Backhouse, chief executive of Fraikin, says: “The fact that the vehicles span across such a distance will no doubt create its own logistical issues but ones which we are well geared up to cater for through our network of workshop facilities and maintenance partners."

The supermarket chain currently operates around 1,350 home delivery vehicles.

See next week’s Commercial Motor (8 December) magazine for an exclusive interview with Backhouse on his vision for Fraikin.