GBN Services invests in Arocs

Given its unstinting commitments to operational responsibility and sustainability, GBN Services’ decision to invest early in Euro VI truck technology should have come as no great surprise. The construction waste management and recycling specialist was one of Britain’s first customers for vehicles from the muscular Mercedes-Benz Arocs family, which combine previously unseen levels of performance and efficiency with mpg savings of up to 5 per cent compared to equivalent, outgoing models. AdBlue consumption, meanwhile, is reduced by as much as 40 per cent.

GBN Services has headquarters at Leyton, east London, and other depots in Uxbridge, New Southgate, Basildon, Harlow (where it has two sites) and Southend. The fast-growing company’s fleet of more than 100 trucks is dominated by Mercedes-Benz – the only vehicles which do not wear three-pointed stars are those it has picked up through a growth strategy based on the acquisition of other companies working in the same field. Available in a huge number of variants, the purpose-designed Arocs range comprises tractors and four-, six- and
eight-wheeled rigids, with gross weights from 18 to 250 tonnes.

GBN took delivery of its first three Arocs – a double-drive tractor unit and a pair of 18-tonners, one of which pulls a drawbar trailer – late last year. It has also ordered a pair of 8x4 Arocs with Heil refuse collection bodies, the first of which was due to enter service as this issue went to press. In line with GBN policy the Arocs are equipped to Crossrail specification, with four-way cameras, blind spot proximity sensors, side under-run guards and audible warning alerts to protect cyclists. The new vehicles will also support the operator’s bid to achieve the new gold standard – it currently holds bronze – of Transport for London’s voluntary Freight Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS), which seeks to make London’s roads safer, cleaner and less congested. GBN Services Managing Director Garry Hobson says: “We were keen to try the Arocs at the first opportunity, not least because environmental compatibility is at the top of the agenda for customers who always like to hear what we’re doing to reduce our own carbon footprint. These new vehicles look fantastic in our distinctive orange livery. They are well thought out and ‘fit for purpose’, so built to withstand the punishment that’s inevitable in an operation such as our own.”

He continues: “The varied nature of our work makes it difficult to measure and compare fuel consumption accurately but our new trucks are certainly using less diesel, while they’re hardly consuming any AdBlue. Our drivers like the Arocs too, particularly the new Mercedes PowerShift 3 automated transmission, which changes quicker and more smoothly than the system they’ve been used to.”

GBN’s 6x4 tractor is a 2648 S model with 350 kW (480 hp) 12.8-litre straight-six engine and flat-floored StreamSpace cab. It works with an ejector trailer and carries wood waste for processing between depots, as well as transporting to landfill the small proportion of construction waste that cannot be recycled – GBN aims within the next year to achieve a 100 per cent recycling rate, with nothing going to landfill. The two 18-tonners are based at the company’s newest depot, in Uxbridge, which is licensed to process up to half a million tonnes of waste per year. Fitted with Hyva skip-loading gear theses trucks typically carry the 12-yard bins favoured by the construction industry.

Both are powered by 7.7-litre straight-sixes. One is an 1824 K model with 175 kW (240 hp) engine, the other an 1832 K with 235 kW (320 hp) powerplant – GBN specified the higher output for this vehicle because it regularly travels further afield in ‘wagon and drag’ configuration at up to 32 tonnes gtw, its ability to carry a second bin on the new Reload Systems drawbar trailer making longer trips economically worthwhile. “We commissioned our first new Mercedes-Benz skip lorry in 1994 and have been buying them ever since,” adds Hobson. “They’ve proved over the years to be exceptionally strong, reliable and cost-effective to operate.”

Acquired with funding support from Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, GBN’s Arocs are being inspected and serviced under seven-year Mercedes-Benz Repair and Maintenance Contracts.

www.gbnservices.co.uk

Photos: Impact