With 273 Carrier Transicold Vector™ 1850 MT and 1950 MT units operating in its fleet, British supermarket chain Waitrose has achieved an impressive 99.65 per cent availability rate across its Vector trailer refrigeration units during the first quarter of 2015. The results track within 0.1 per cent of Waitrose’s record 99.72 per cent availability for the Vector units in 2014, demonstrating consistently high levels of service from its Carrier Transicold technology. Carrier Transicold , which operates in the UK as Carrier Transicold UK, helps improve global transport and shipping temperature control with a complete line of equipment for refrigerated trucks, trailers and containers, and is a part of UTC Building & Industrial Systems, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).

Vector units represent approximately half of Waitrose’s temperature-controlled trailer fleet. The most recent Vector unit order was completed in December 2014, with 80 additional Vector 1950 MTs being delivered over a 12-month period, each mounted to a Gray & Adams triple-compartment reefer trailer and equipped with Carrier’s DataCOLD™ 500T temperature recorders.

“Vehicle uptime is critical to our business and Carrier Transicold’s Vector units have been performing well year-round, even on days when the ambient temperature has been particularly high,” said Simon Gray, vehicle engineering manager at Waitrose.

Key to the Vector 1950 MT’s impressive uptime is Carrier’s patented E-Drive™ all-electric technology, which removes the mechanical transmissions found in conventional belt-driven refrigeration systems and transforms engine power into electricity through a generator.

The latest Carrier Transicold Vector 1950 MT units are backed by 10-year everCOLD™ repair and maintenance agreements, which include on-site scheduled servicing and repairs carried out by manufacturer-trained technicians from the Carrier Transicold network. Annual temperature control testing and certification, F-gas regulation compliance, and access to Carrier’s new oneCALL™ 24/7 breakdown assistance service are also included.

Carrier Transicold launched the Vector 1950 MT at the IAA Show in Hanover in September 2012, replacing its previous generation Vector 1850 MT unit. The Vector 1950 MT features a condenser which is smaller and lighter than its predecessor, while providing even greater efficiency. It also boosts capacity by four per cent to achieve 18,800 watts for faster pull-down and the ability to haul larger loads over long distances. A more compact design also results in a 17 per cent reduction in the unit’s refrigerant charge.

For more information on Carrier Transicold and its products and services, visit www.transicold.carrier.com or @CarrierGreen on Twitter.

About Carrier Transicold

Carrier Transicold helps improve transport and shipping of temperature controlled cargoes with a complete line of equipment and services for refrigerated transport and cold chain visibility. For more than 40 years, Carrier Transicold has been an industry leader, providing customers around the world with the most advanced, energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable container refrigeration systems and generator sets, direct-drive and diesel truck units, and trailer refrigeration systems. Carrier Transicold is a part of UTC Building & Industrial Systems, a unit of United Technologies Corp., a leading provider to the aerospace and building systems industries worldwide. For more information, visit www.transicold.carrier.com , or follow Carrier on Twitter: @CarrierGreen .