Transdek UK has supplied a high-specification multi-temperature DUET Wedge double deck trailer to foodservice operator Thomas Ridley, along with a new loading bay facility. The project, which forms part of Thomas Ridley’s supply chain efficiency programme, has also won the Temperature Controlled Storage & Distribution Award for Innovation 2015.
Thomas Ridley Foodservice provides a total solution for the catering industry, delivering a comprehensive range of chilled, ambient and frozen products, both locally and nationally. The company services a wide range of customers, such as pubs, restaurants, hotels, nursing homes, hospitals, schools and leisure facilities.
Transdek, specialists in the double deck sector, custom designed and built the multi-temperature Wedge double deck trailer for Thomas Ridley. It is capable of transporting up to 50 standard pallets or up to 90 roll cages, twice the load of a standard single deck reefer.
The trailer incorporates Transdek’s unique, patent applied ‘Wedge’ chassis design, which allows full-height loading on both decks, including over the slimline 76mm neck. It is also fitted with Transdek’s patented insulated twin-slide vertical door system, with a four-part sliding insulated curtain on the inside of each deck to create additional thermal integrity. Opening one deck at a time after docking, the system offers further improvements in thermal efficiency, driver safety and anti-theft security.
The trailer is specified with a low-noise, low-emission Thermo King SLXe Spectrum 3 Zone refrigeration unit and three off S3 remote evaporator units, giving three independent temperature zones with a range of -20oC to +7oC. A removable bi-fold plug type insulated bulkhead is fitted on the bottom deck to separate frozen/chilled or chilled/ ambient compartments.
The fixed second deck comprises a 40mm aluminium panel with 30mm base insulation and an innovative fully-bonded angle to eliminate thermal bridging. Compared to lifting deck alternatives, the Wedge trailer offers at least three-tonnes more payload, enabling more efficient transport with lower running costs, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
All internal and external lights are based on ultra low-energy LED technology, with two-off PIR-operated 12,600 lumens strip LEDs fitted internally on both top and bottom decks – a first in the UK. A lightweight, slimline, two-tier column tail-lift facilitates easy offloading at the Paddock Wood distribution centre.
To provide maximum loading flexibility, Transdek has also installed three of its award winning 6.5-tonne V2G modular double deck lifts and developed a modular warehouse extension at the Bury St Edmunds NDC to service the DUET Wedge trailer along with Thomas Ridley Foodservice’s existing fleet of rigid trucks.
The V2G lifts were installed directly onto the existing yard without the need for any additional civil works by Transdek’s team of engineers. The entire installation was completed and commissioned in less than four days, creating a sealed, temperature-controlled continuum between delivery vehicles and the warehouse. The lifts provide fast, safe and efficient loading and unloading of all vehicles to ground level at the flat floor loading bays.
Each of the loadhouse units are finished with insulated cladding and fitted with composite panel doors – to maintain thermal efficiencies of the warehouse.
The warehouse extension was installed to the front of the existing warehouse to provide additional storage and improved marshalling.
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