Fitted to a 26-tonne MAN chassis, the aerodynamic buckleless curtainsider is part of the first order placed by AG Barr plc with fast-growing dry freight bodybuilder Bevan Group.
The Bevan21 is designed to reduce wind resistance while maintaining cubic load volumes. Features include a curved roof and a specially moulded air deflector and cab collar.
Independent tests of a Bevan21, carried out under stringent conditions, confirmed that Bevan’s revolutionary streamlined body – which is also available as a box – is capable of cutting fuel bills by more than 15%. Barr Soft Drinks has headquarters in Cumbernauld and is best known for IRN-BRU – famed as Scotland’s ‘other’ national drink. Other popular brands in the company’s portfolio include Strathmore Spring Water, Rubicon, Tizer and the Barr range of flavoured carbonates. The company can trace its roots back to 1830, when Robert Barr started a cork cutting venture. However, it was his son, also called Robert Barr, who added an ‘aerated water’ manufacturing business in Falkirk in 1875.
AG Barr’s new, MAN-mounted Bevan21 employs an innovative system that allows the curtains to be fastened using quick release buckles fixed to the side raves and mounted internally, so protecting them from fouling by road dirt. Not only does this set-up allow quicker access to the load, but the absence of conventional external straps and buckles also leaves a smooth, clean expanse of curtain for the eye-catching IRN-BRU livery.
AG Barr’s first Bevan21 operates from the company’s depot in Walthamstow, north London, and trunks to wholesale customers located throughout southern England.?
Bevan Group has also built five other bodies for the drinks firm at its production facility in Halesowen, West Midlands. All are fast access curtainsliders, which are ideally suited to multi-drop applications because the curtains are tensioned from front to back and have locks at both ends, so drivers have no time-consuming straps and buckles to contend with – to gain access they simply slide back the curtains, concertina-fashion, in seconds.
These bodies are fitted to a variety of chassis – an 18-tonne Mercedes-Benz Axor, two 15-tonne MANs and a pair of 7.5-tonne Fuso Canters – based at other regional depots in England, from where they undertake local, multi-drop deliveries.
Graeme Kay, head of logistics at AG Barr, said the decision to place its first order with Bevan Group was based on a two-year trial exercise and on full consultation with site management teams, who were invited to submit operational recommendations.
Mr Kay continued: “We decided to purchase the Bevan21 for the trunking role because it met all of our operational and environmental criteria. Here at AG Barr we are continually looking at ways of reducing our environmental impact by saving energy, cutting waste and reducing our carbon footprint, and we are confident that this new vehicle will make a positive contribution towards achieving these goals.”
AG Barr runs a fleet of nearly 150 commercial vehicles, ranging from small vans up to 44-tonne tractor units, which operate from eight retail and production sites across the UK.
Source: AG Barr
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