Rowlinson's vehicles are on a five-year contract hire package that includes:
- Tax
- Scheduled and non-scheduled servicing
- Repairs
- Inspections and maintenance
- 24/7 national roadside assistance and breakdown recovery
- MOT preparation and submission
- Maintenance and recording of all documentation to meet O Licence requirements.
The six new tractor units and first seven trailers have been supplied in the timber packaging company’s new eye-catching blue and white livery. An additional three trailers will be added to the fleet in early 2023, bearing a product-specific variation of the new livery.
Jim Morgan, who manages Rowlinson Packaging’s overall H&S and fleet compliance, said: “We have a process of continuous improvement and monitoring across the business and, as part of our ongoing H&S commitments, we identified that the company needed a new fleet. Dawsongroup had supplied vehicles for the previous five years, but we undertook a very thorough sweep of the market to find best value.
"That doesn’t necessarily mean the lowest price of course, but Dawsongroup were very competitive and, given the strong service levels from them and their local service agents in the past, we were happy to commit for a further five years.
“On top of having a modern fleet, our new livery has made a great impression on customers and potential customers alike, and we are finding new business benefitting as a direct result of the impact both are having. People underestimate the ‘presence’ of their fleet at their peril.”
Founded in 1926, Rowlinson Packaging has been a leading designer and manufacturer of timber packaging for well over 50 years. From standard pallets to bespoke packing cases for international distribution of products from many of the UK’s leading engineering companies, the business has special H&S demands.
Jim Morgan added: “Timber-based manufacturing processes mean fire is always a potential hazard. We work our fleet in a local area and run at relatively low mileage, so could have moved to electric trucks, but non-availability of what we needed made that an impossible dream for now. Gas brought too many potential risks, so we have settled happily on the latest DAF tractors to help us meet the necessary environmental demands of the present time."
The new fleet of liveried vehicles was handled by Shaun Gough, Branch Sales Manager at our Stoke branch.