The family car, however, is not seen by many in the same light as the family pet.

The car is the workhorse of the home, journeying from A to B and beyond. However, it shares many similarities with ‘Fido’. For example, if you ‘feed’ it with the right fuel, clean and care for it with regular trips to the garage, it will take care of you and your loved ones out on the ever-expanding UK road network.

Now! If you don’t have a dog or a car and are thinking of making an addition you’re your homestead there is a very important question you need to ask yourself. ‘Do I buy new, or ‘second hand’ / pre-loved?’

When it comes to a dog, you’ll most likely choose the cutest puppy you can find. You will then take it home to nurture and train so that you can watch it grow into a beloved member of the family. It’s not all going to be plain sailing, however. Puppies are often more expensive than an older dog. There are house and obedience training to consider, not to mention ensuring that they don’t chew everything in sight costing you even more money.

On the other hand, if you were to choose an older dog from a local rescue centre, you can find yourself with a dog who is already housetrained. Yes, there will be an acclimation period but once you’re through this, that dog will be as loving as any other as long as you take care of it.

The same goes for cars. The average family car costs £28,000 brand new. As long as you take care of it you will have many happy years driving around the country. You may enjoy the new car smell which fades over time and be wowed by all the technology hidden in the dash, half of which you may never use! One year later that same car could be worth £7,000 less with 10,000 miles on the clock and you have to ask yourself, ‘did I get my monies worth?’

If you decide for whatever reason to sell your relatively new car, imagine what a great deal this will be for the next owner. They are getting a nearly new car with low mileage for a great price. Still a reliable and loveable ‘workhorse’ to be accepted into any family.

Commercial fleets work in the same way as both of these examples. As long as a tractor/trailer unit is maintained and cared for it can be a valued asset to any business. Companies rely on these ‘steel horses’ to facilitate their day to day needs, making deliveries up and down the country transporting all kinds of goods. A well-maintained fleet is the backbone of any good logistics company.

As one of the top Logistics players in the UK, we at Culina Group make a commitment to client base to operate a brand new fleet on a two-year replacement cycle. We are on the road in a “state of the art” fleet. This is a significant cost obligation (like the puppy) that we fulfill on behalf of our clients to represent them as best we can at all times.

‘What happens to all of the ‘old’ trucks at the end of their two-year cycle?’ I hear you cry. Well, like the dogs home, all of our nearly new trucks receive a second chance to learn some ‘new tricks’ with a new logistics family. We sell these vehicles on our truck sales website, www.culinatrucksales.co.uk. All of our vehicles are fully maintained with a full-service history and would be a great addition to any fleet.

With the increasing popularity of sites such as eBay over the past 10 years it is getting easier to buy anything your heart desires including tractors and trailers, but there will always be that niggle in the back of your mind regarding reliability. Is the description 100% reliable, are they hiding anything from the potential buyer? The reliability of a vehicle can have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line. If you are unable to make a delivery due to a vehicle being stuck on the side of the road because a snap decision was made on price over quality, this could be detrimental not only to your profits but to your reputation also.

Well, with Culina Group you will have none of that worry. You can call our Fleet Manager to discuss any vehicle advertised and arrange a viewing to suit you.

Our vehicles are beloved members of the Culina Group family but the time comes when we just have to let them go. We thank them for their service and hope they can find themselves a new home where they can be loved once more. And if your heart is set on a cab with that ‘new interior smell’ I’m sure we could throw in an air freshener to sweeten the already great deal.

“To absolutely minimise our on-going impact on the environment, Culina are looking at fuel economy, vehicle efficiency, and vehicle utilisation from many angles”, said Group Fleet Manager – Mark Matkin.

“We have made significant investments in developing an extremely aerodynamic fleet of units and trailers. Our Culina fleet runs on high specification (Goodyear “Fuel Max”) tyres that minimise rolling resistance and maximise fuel economy.”

“We have recently invested in new “Slipstream” fuel efficient aerodynamic rigid fleet. Urban short trailers are being utilised to optimise fleet usage, provide fleet flexibility, and minimise unnecessary mileage.”

“Another significant environmental investment we have made is in trailers. We now have 62 LST Trailers (Longer Semi Trailers) which can carry between 2 & 4 Pallets extra. We will now be taking trailers off the road and moving more goods per trailer”.

State of the art refrigerated curtain sider trailers have also been introduced to the Culina Fleet. These special trailers can deliver chilled goods and then collect ambient goods and vice versa, again minimising unnecessary fleet mileage and optimising fleet usage.

“We now have the greenest fleet available to Culina”, said Mark, “This is testimony to Culina’s commitment to environmental efficiency”.

Culina work closely with Greenhous DAF in the selection, provision and maintenance of their DAF fleet. This is a long term partnership underlying the importance of close communication and an understanding of the requirements of the logistics company by the Greenhous DAF sales staff.
Culina offer logistical solutions to food and drink manufacturers, bridging the gap between the producer and the final destination, which is usually the major supermarket chains. Using a fleet of 350 vehicles, Culina collect food and drink products from the source of production, bringing into storage if necessary, before its scheduled release to the retailer.

The company is usually involved in the transportation and storage of large volumes of food and drink products, but the growth of some of their smaller clients has been significant in recent years. Assisting start-up brands and niche manufacturers with their logistics requirements helps them on their journey to becoming the food and drink industry leaders of the future.

A major strength of Culina has always been their ability to work within both the chilled and ambient temperature ranges, both from a storage and delivery point of view. Greenhous DAF have supplied trucks and trailers to suit the needs of the company with bespoke refrigerated trucks among the Culina DAF fleet.
Mark Matkin, Group Fleet Manager for Culina, explains the diversity of their operations saying: “We are a market leader in the distribution of the world’s best known food and drink products throughout the UK and Ireland, but we also offer contract packaging services to our clients. We are always looking to expand as a group and take on new businesses to diversify the range of services that we can offer.”

“We also have bonded warehousing facilities where high value products including wines and spirits and dutiable products are stored securely. We offer a very high quality of service to our customers.”

Returning to the vehicles Culina operate, among their 350 vehicles (and 650 trailers) there are smaller vans for access into more challenging environments in cities like London. However, the larger trucks are the major work horses and the company has just taken charge of twenty DAF XF510 6×2 Tractor Units from Greenhous DAF. Colin Moore, Truck Sales Executive at Greenhous DAF in Shrewsbury, says of the latest consignment of trucks: “I have worked with Culina for the past 9 years and with Mark Matkin, the Culina fleet manager for the last 3 years. We have built a good relationship where we can get to grips with the detailed needs of the company. The new XF’s are highly rated in the industry and offer the drivers excellent driving conditions and cab comfort for long distance journeys.

“We have also recently supplied Culina with nine DAF CF330 26 Tonne Ambient Rigid, two DAF CF330 26 Tonne Chill Rigid, one DAF LF180 18 Tonne Ambient Rigid and two DAF LF180 16 Tonne Ambient Rigid trucks. Offering a two year maintenance and repair contract to Culina ensures they have an immediate service response 24 hours a day, keeping their trucks operating.”

The scale of the Culina operation is impressive with around 3,000 staff and a £230 million turnover, 2.9 million sq. ft. of warehousing including 8 chilled, 8 ambient and 4 co-packing centres across the UK. They have around 170 clients resulting in an annual production of 2.2 million orders delivered to 4,500 locations.

With such a large logistical operation ensuring the environmental impact of the company is strictly controlled is especially important and it influences the decisions made on new delivery vehicles. As Mark describes: “There is a heavy emphasis on the environment and how to reduce our impact on it. We have invested heavily in efficient trucks and the means to monitor how our vehicles are driven. The DAF trucks are good examples of where we can track their use, including driver behaviour, CO2 emissions, plan more efficient routes and look to reduce fuel use.

Working with Greenhous DAF we can monitor our fleet use and feedback our findings to Greenhous and DAF which in turn enables them to evaluate their technological advances.”

To find out more about the services both Culina and Greenhous DAF offer visit their websites at www.culina.co.uk and www.greeenhous.co.uk.