Mart spends 110m-plus
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• by Bryan Jarvis Carlisle-based Eddie Stobart has spent more than £20m on 1.000 new BoaHoy Tautliners and is ordering at least 400 new 4x2 and 6x2 tractors to haul them.
Stobart has already taken delivery of 55 380hp 4x2s-50 Volvo 18125 with C-trim Globetrotter cabs and five Scania Toplines—but these are all left-hookers for Continental use on Stobart's NAAFI and NATO contracts.
The 400 extra tractors are to cope with projected growth in new business over the next two years, mainly in the UK: they will be on contract hire.
The Tautliners will be phased in over two years—they're being built at the rate of 40 a month based on the French-made Samro chassis rather than the more traditional Fruehauf chassis or those of Boa!lay's subsidiary M&G.
To keep running costs down Stobart has opted for welded frames and bulkheads instead of all-bolted construction; Mentor air-sprung low-maintenance disc-braked axles: and cassette
type bearings. The Tautliners also have flush rear doors with integral locking, roller buffers, and floors that are typically European 34mm laminated hardwood with aluminium omega wear strips and 300nun crossmember spacings.