In a significant conquest deal for Renault Trucks, one of East Anglia’s leading fresh produce merchants, D&F McCarthy Ltd, has taken delivery of three Renault Midlums into its Iveco-dominated fleet of 18 trucks and vans.
Supplied by Renault Trucks dealer Brand of Beccles, the two 14t Midlum 270.14s and one 18t Midlum 300.18, all with Optitronic gearboxes, are equipped with refrigerated bodies and slide away tail lifts fitted by Gray & Adams Ltd.
The new Midlums are also the company’s first mid-weight trucks, marking a strategic move from 7.5 t up to 14t and 18t, for improved operational efficiency. The decision to purchase higher GVW follows a market audit and recommendation by Matthew Alexander from Brands of Beccles.
Working out of McCarthy’s new state-of-the-art temperature controlled depot in Norwich, the Midlums are ideally suited to the complete cold chain palletised operation, reducing manual loading and increasing productivity.
Director Martin McCarthy says: “The Midlums are enabling us to deliver far more than we were achieving with the 7.5 tonners, with only a moderate impact on running costs, which are more than compensated by the additional payload.
With this increased payload allowing us to have a tail lift and the ability to carry a pallet truck our drivers are now able to offload pallets without the need for the customer to have a forklift, which is a huge advantage. Feedback from the drivers is very positive and the automated gearboxes are making their lives much easier.
The Midlums also look great in our livery which is important as our striking brand creates real standout and is a strong source of referral business from people who see our trucks on the road.”
An expansion into the food service market has seen McCarthys place an order for a further 14t Midlum which will go on the road in the spring and join the company’s growing delivery operation.
Martin McCarthy continues: “On the basis of the Renault Midlums’ performance so far, there will be repeat orders as we upgrade our fleet and continue to grow our business. We have a good relationship with our local dealer, Brand of Beccles, they understand our operation and work with us to ensure we have the best trucks and aftersales support for the job.”
D&F McCarthy is an award winning fresh produce company delivering to kitchen and catering operations across East Anglia A family business since 1877, the fifth and sixth generation of the family are actively engaged in running the company which operates out of a state-of-the-art fully temperature controlled warehouse in Memorial Way, Norwich, with storage capacity of over 1,000 pallets.
D&F McCarthy stock a large and unrivalled range of top quality locally sourced and imported fruit, vegetables and salads, with its modern in-house preparation unit producing ready-to-use freshly prepared vegetables daily. To complement its range of fresh fruit and vegetables, the company also stocks an ever-expanding list of dairy and other foodservice lines.
