Offering superior cold chain protection while reducing the impact on the environment, Carrier Transicold's versatile Vector 1550 all-electric trailer refrigeration unit is taking to the road with one of the UK's leading chilled dairy foods companies.

Dairy Crest's order for 15 Vector 1550 units makes it the first UK fleet to operate the Vector 1550 temperature controlled system, following close consultation with Carrier representatives at September's IAA show in Hanover, Germany, where this new model was launched. As a supplier to major supermarkets and convenience stores nationwide, Dairy Crest will use the Vector 1550 units to maintain precise temperature control (+/- 0.3°C) when delivering its top brands, including Cathedral City cheddar, Clover spread and Country LifeŽ butter, together with a wide range of milk products.

"The Vector 1550 unit offers the perfect blend of refrigeration capacity and low energy consumption," said Trevor Thompson, category manager for Dairy Crest's commercial fleet. "Our new trailers have been developed to bespoke specifications by Gray and Adams and will carry temperature sensitive loads 24/7. With such a demanding operation, it is essential we use technology that will handle this flawlessly; it was clear from our discussions with Carrier that this was the unit for us."

Featuring all-electric technology, the Vector 1550 unit contains fewer serviceable parts and joints than conventional models, which allows for increased reliability and uptime, reduced refrigerant leak rates, unparalleled pull-down and temperature control and reduced maintenance requirements.

The Vector 1550 unit builds on the success of the powerful Vector 1850 unit by combining a reduced capacity of 14,800 Watts with low fuel consumption - making it perfectly suited to mono temperature operations. This optimised energy consumption is achieved by a patented combination of a hermetic compressor with an economiser, enabling the use of a smaller 1.5-litre diesel engine. The economiser function supplies up to a 40 per cent increase in refrigeration capacity during pull-down, which is automatically reduced during the temperature regulation phase.

Such low fuel consumption helps to reduce the total cost of ownership for customers whilst also cutting overall carbon impact by up to 35 per cent compared to conventional systems - the equivalent of removing 2.8 tons of CO2 per unit per year.

Justin Grace, managing director, Carrier Transicold UK, added, "Dairy Crest has been a Carrier operator for many years, and it's great to see established customers improving their business with our innovations. After all, that's what it's about: working hard to bring operational improvements and cost savings through advanced technologies."

Dairy Crest estimates that its new trailers will remain on the fleet for seven years, with each trailer covering approximately 180,000 km per year. They join a fleet totalling more than 3,500 vehicular assets, including 250 tractor units, 400 trailers, 400 rigid trucks and 2,500 vans. Sixty per cent of its refrigerated fleet relies on Carrier Transicold technology.