Carrier Bags Major ASDA Order

Carrier Transicold has won a significant order for 124 Vector™ 1950 MT trailer refrigeration units from supermarket chain ASDA Stores Limited, part of the Walmart family.  Carrier Transicold, which operates in the UK as Carrier Transicold UK, is a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).

Carrier Transicold secured the deal following the successful entry into service of 20 double-deck trailers using the same powerful Vector 1950 MT refrigeration units in late 2014, which marked a new trailer configuration for the supermarket.

Also key to winning the order was Carrier Transicold’s proven service delivery standards for more than 700 existing units operated by ASDA. In the first six months of 2015, Carrier Transicold’s network completed 100 per cent of all scheduled maintenance on time, including managing ASDA’s F-Gas regulatory compliance across its Carrier-badged fleet. Asset availability during the same period averaged 99.54 per cent, demonstrating consistently high levels of uptime.

The new Vector 1950 MT units are being mounted to 118 Schmitz Cargobull 13.6-metre dual-compartment reefer trailers, which will operate with full-width 2,200-millimetre evaporators at the rear for maximum cold chain performance. Six Cartwright dual-compartment urban trailers complete the order, which will be used for deliveries to stores in city centres.

ASDA selected the powerful Vector 1950 MT units for their rapid pull-down speed, precise temperature control and innovative E-Drive™ all-electric technology, which together with a microchannel heat exchanger, enables each unit to operate with up to a 15 per cent reduction in refrigerant charge versus the trailer refrigeration units they replace. The lower refrigerant charge reduces the potential for refrigerant loss.

“Environmental performance, cold chain protection and fleet uptime are three of the biggest considerations when specifying new fridge units for our fleet,” said Sean Clifton, senior manager, National Fleets at ASDA. “The Vector systems deliver in all of these areas; put simply, they don’t give us any issues.”

The new Vector units have been supplied with everCOLD™ flexible, full-service repair and maintenance packages, which include on-site servicing carried out by manufacturer-trained technicians from the Carrier Transicold network. Annual temperature control testing and certification, F-Gas regulation compliance and access to Carrier’s new oneCALL™ 24/7 incident management service is also included.

Each Vector unit has also been designed to integrate with ASDA’s fleet telematics solution, providing access to temperature-critical information at any point in the journey.

The earlier batch of 20 Gray & Adams double-deck trailers are being successfully used for specific routes and deliveries where the ability to carry more goods per journey is successfully reducing road miles and CO2 emissions. Each double-deck trailer operates with a Vector 1950 MT unit; chosen by ASDA for its ability to deliver the significant cooling power required for the vast loadspace. These trailers were supported by bespoke product training from Carrier Transicold before entering operation.

For more information on Carrier Transicold and its products and services, visit www.carriertransicold.co.uk. Follow Carrier Transicold on Twitter: @SmartColdChain.

About Carrier Transicold
Carrier Transicold helps improve transport and shipping of temperature controlled cargoes with a complete line of equipment and services for refrigerated transport and cold chain visibility. For more than 40 years, Carrier Transicold has been an industry leader, providing customers around the world with the most advanced, energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable container refrigeration systems and generator sets, direct-drive and diesel truck units, and trailer refrigeration systems. Carrier Transicold is a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp., a leading provider to the aerospace and building systems industries worldwide. For more information, visit www.transicold.carrier.com. Follow Carrier Transicold on Twitter: @SmartColdChain.