Unilink to spend ElOm
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• Truck manufacturers can expect orders worth £10m this year from the Transport Development Group contract hire company Unilink, following its acquisition of CSL Truck and Trailer Hire from TIP Europe in a £1.7m deal this week.
Michael Cox, managing director TDG Hire Division, says 250 new vehicles will be added to the fleet this year. CSL's 500-vehicle fleet adds to Unilink's existing 500 — within three years Cox expects to boost this to 3,000.
Unilink is offering jobs to CSL's 35 staff, although CSL's managing director — who was operating in a caretaker role from TIP — will not be joining. The expanded operation is headed by Unilink's managing director David Richardson.
Cox says he expects the economy — and the demand for trucks — to begin to pick up, hence the expected increase to 3,000 vehicles which Unilink believes will put it into the top ten of contract hire operators.
The acquisition of CSL gives Unilink new locations at Whitwood in West Yorkshire; Trafford Park in Manchester; and Shepshed near Leicester; adding to existing depots at Avonmouth, Bolton and Barking. Unilink says the Whitwood depot gives it the ability to serve Leeds and West Yorkshire as well as the recently announced Port Wakefield Channel Tunnel freight terminal.