The one-day Freight in the City exhibition, in its sixth year, gave visitors the opportunity to get up close to a wide range of vehicles and cutting-edge technology aimed at delivering into urban areas safely and sustainably.
It also brought together a line-up of leading logistics experts to discuss topical issues in a series of debates and seminars throughout the day.
Truck and Trailer and Vans had a combined stand in a prime position near the middle of the hall, next to the networking area and near the seminar arena.
We broke the mould with a 12-tonne CNG truck that had been specially sprayed by a graffiti artist with eye-catching artwork promoting our RISK-FREE ROAD TO ZERO message.
With alternative fuels firmly on the HGV horizon and with big changes ahead, our star-of-the-show truck delivered our message to operators confused about which alternative fuels will be best for their businesses.
The reality is that alternative fuels are definitely coming. Operators can’t avoid them and certainly can’t stick their heads in the sand. However, the future will come with the potential for big risks, big capital outlay and big mistakes.
Our message was that we can help operators through their confusion and make their road to zero risk-free. We’re already doing a lot of the hard work – investing in new technology, trialling new kit and taking the associated risks – all so that they don’t have to.
The event was well-attended and we promoted our leasing and contract hire services as providing easy and flexible access to emerging technologies, avoiding any risks or costly mistakes, protecting operators’ capital, and allowing operators to evaluate kit actually in their own businesses.
After such a long time battened down by COVID-19, Freight in the City gave us the opportunity to demonstrate our resilience, our success in emerging from the pandemic and our determination to get back to normality – back to basics and back in front of customers.
Equally, we were encouraged by our customers’ willingness to do the same - making the effort to go to the event, learn from the latest thinking with a packed schedule of guest speakers and see us face-to-face.
Freight in the City proved to be a worthwhile day and a good springboard to reconnecting with our customers directly. It also provided us with lots of positives, not least that both Truck and Trailer and Vans came away with some very promising leads!
Watch this timelapse video of Neil Kean, the Graffiti Artist (arkadegraphics@yahoo.co.uk) getting to work on the truck or take a look at more of Neil's work.