1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136 
"My mother is managing director and I'm a director, along with my two sisters and my brother-in-law."
Page 32
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Jonathan Etli
Nrongly—but Vifilsons refurbished it for us," Edge -eports."They put some additional strengthening in the mar to bring it up to 44-tonne specification so that we an operate at that weight if we have to. The second one Ne got already had that capability. "We've had no problems at all with the more recent )ne and neither of them have caused us headaches so 'ar as routine maintenance is concerned."
Both trailers have butterfly decks at the back, and hey're easy to operate, says Edge: "We don't get an awful amount of tall freight, but when we do it all tends to arrive at the same time. Having those decks gives us a )it of extra flexibility."
The Multidecks trunk pallets to the Palletline hub at Erdington in Birmingham and collect pallets for Edge l'ansport to deliver to customers in its territory. slorthern-bound pallets are trunked to a depot in )reston. How long will they stay in serviceP"I'll be looking or them to last 10 to 15 years," he says.
Local collection
Age sometimes uses the Multidecks for local collecion work if large numbers of pallets have to be picked ip from a single location, but this has to be done with are: "They're 15ft Sin high and there's always the risk hat they'll foul cables or other overhead obstrucions if they're on people's premises." That's far less If a problem on the public highway because low
bridges and other height restrictions are usually clearly marked, but drivers still have to exercise caution.
Edge has recently ordered two conventional 13.6m curtalnsider trailers from Wilson and may acquire another Multideck if the business keeps growing at its current pace. They'll join a 22-strong trailer fleet that includes three 13.6m Boalloy curtainsiders, a step-frame Fruehauf double-deck curtainsider refurbished by Wilson, and a selection of 40ft curtainsiders of various makes, "Most of the latter are triaxles although we've got one or two tandems," says Edge. "We've also got a semi-lowloader and three flats, although we don't keep those on the road. Almost all of our nine tractive units are ERFs, although we do run one MAN. They're all 6x2s at either 325 or 360hp, and we've bought most of them second-hand, We keep tractors for as long as they remain serviceable—probably 10 years if we can—and I like to think our fleet is pretty tidy. We've never had any problems with the ministry, and I want things to stay that way."
Gaseous fuel
Edge is interested in running tractors on a gaseous fuel given the cost of diesel. "I think it's something that everybody is going to have to consider," he remarks. For the most part he uses rigids to pick up pallets from local businesses, and to deliver them. "We operate 14: a mixture of 7.5, 17 and 18-tonners," he adds. "They're all either Dafs or ERFs."
Edge Transport has a pretty big area to cover on Palletline's behalf—"It includes all of North Wales, coming up to Shrewsbury, Whitchurch, Chester, and the Wirral," Edge explains—and Palletline accounts for almost 85% of Edge's work: "On average we trunk 110 pallets outward-bound, and on the busiest night we've had to date we trunked 196. So far as inbound traffic is concerned, we've delivered upwards of 200 pallets."
Using double-deck trailers allows Edge to cope with this volume more easily and means that pallets don't have to be stacked on top of one another. That can result in damage and certainly makes loading and unloading more complicated. The other 15% of the co pany's traffic comes from a variety of custome include Tiger Tim, the firelighter manufacturer, and tc bar manufacturer Witter.
Edge Transport was founded in 1933 by Jonatii Edge's grandfather. "My dad took it on in the early E ties, and I joined in 1996," he says. "Sadly dad died 1999, but he left the company in fantastic shape. Toc my mother is managing director and I'm a director, alc with my two sisters and my brother-in-law. My cou runs the workshop and another cousin works with hi so it's definitely a family firm."
He's pleased that the company and its 32 employe form part of the Palletline network. "If we hadn't join( then frankly I don't think we'd have survived as a bu ness," he remarks. Edge is fully aware that many 0th hauliers are looking at this kind of business opportun and expects more and more rivals to Palletline to spri up over the next few years: "The Working Time Direct' will spell the end of a lot of groupage and many mo people will have to send their goods via a pallet m work." And that in turn could be good news for doub decker manufacturers like Wilson TS.
• See Fleet Focus, page 34.