Trucking hell! If you're going to muck around on a British landfill site then you'd better have a rugged truck (and trailer) to do it with. And thanks to Agent Reg Biglorryblog learns that those plucky chaps at Hills Waste Solutions have put two no-nonsense Euro-4 Volvo FM 440 double-drive tractors into service to transport municipal waste and recyclable materials on a contract with Wiltshire County Council from their base near Swindon. And here's one of them, displaying that typically Volvo total disdain for muck and bullets, whilst showing a somehow 'soft, warm and sensitive' side to it...don't you think? (I must stop drinking the Toilet Duck...)
It's a well known fact that when it comes to operating on UK landfill sites we Brits ask a lot from our waste wagons. It's something the Continental moving floor trailer makers had to learn through hard experience and I recall talking to one who expressed horror at the punishment his trailers were taking in good old Blighty, especially when it came to them being towed out of the mud! His solution? Build a concrete apron on the edge of the waste site where the trucks could discharge their loads removing the need for such a heavy duty spec. Naahhh! I can't see that happening...we LIKE getting up to our axles in the mud over here!
Anyway now click through here for more details from BLB on the double tough FM tractors
Supplied by Volvo Truck and Bus Centre Wales and West at Calne in Wiltshire, two FMs are covered by a comprehensive 5-year, 100,000km/year contract maintenance package. And an interesting feature of the contract (well it is to BLB) is the fact that Hills are able to change the trucks mid-term if their contract changes with its end-user/customer. Now that spells 'flexibility' to me...
And just in case you'd thought I'd forgotten what goes on behind. The FMs run with 105yd³ air- suspended tri-axle trailers from United and will move around 820,000 yd³ of waste between them over the 5 year contract duration. We're talking a lot of rubbish here.
Meanwhile, Peter Moore, Transport Operations Manager for Hills Waste Solutions tells me that he specified the FM cabs for their compactness, suitability for the job and strong residual values at the end of term, adfding: "You won’t get a better product than Volvo. They last extremely well and we've a third one on order. They make a good tough combinationm when coupled to our fully-freighted ejector trailers, have excellent traction for manoeuvring on soft ground and are ideal for our application. The drivers also like them. I involve the drivers in deciding the specification of the trucks which gives them serious input and they’re really pleased with the FM double-drives.”
The Volvo’s haul three loads per day each, driving from Salisbury to Calne on cross-country ‘A’ roads. Specified with Volvo’s I-Shift automated gearbox, Peter reckons. “With lots of gear changes, operating at 44 tonnes and with no opportunity to relax on tight ‘A’ roads, the drivers love the I-Shift to bits as it makes their life easier - and safer.” What you might call a ringing endorsement.