McCulla Ireland, the cold-chain storage and transport specialist, has bolstered its fleet with the addition of 33 new S.KO COOL SMART refrigerated semi-trailers.
The final reefers from the order hit the road in recent weeks, cementing a partnership between the two businesses that is now into its second decade.
Brian Beattie, Operations Director at McCulla Ireland, says: “We took our first two semi-trailers from Schmitz Cargobull in 2008 having been exclusively with another manufacturer before. The trailers we’ve had in the years since have all proved to be robust products with great longevity and build quality.”
Family-owned McCulla Ireland is celebrating 55-years of trading this year and has built its business by cultivating long-term relationships with clients, an approach it is utilising with Schmitz Cargobull too.
“We had an issue a few years back and they fixed it very quickly. The customer service they provide is excellent, and the level of attention you receive from their team throughout the process is impressive. It really is a partnership,” he says.
Supplied by Kevin Wynd, Regional Sales Manager at Schmitz Cargobull, the latest order comprises single and multi-temperature trailers and a specification honed over many years to meet McCulla Ireland’s exacting requirements.
McCulla Ireland, which has its headquarters in Lisburn, near Belfast, operates three cold-stores across the island of Ireland with a combined capacity to house 15,000 pallets. It also provides value-added services, including blast freezing and tempering.
Its operation, which sees it moving everything from frozen chips to high-end pharmaceuticals, involves sending unaccompanied trailers across the Irish Sea.
On the occasions that damage does occur, during sea crossings for example, the ability for its in-house technicians to simply replace the affected panels rather than the whole side of the trailer thanks to a segmented design, is yet another reason the percentage of Schmitz Cargobull products in the McCulla Ireland fleet continues to grow.
Its latest semi-trailers all feature Schmitz Cargobull’s TrailerConnect® telematics system and are built on a galvanised MODULUS bolted chassis. The chassis has been designed for both strength and durability and comes with a 10-year warranty against rust-through on all galvanised parts.
The partnership will begin a new chapter later this year, with the arrival of a new ‘pharmaceutical specification’ S.KO trailer, which features advanced load security.
It will be fitted with a double deck loading beam system, which will allow 66 pallets to be transported per load to service the requirements of a specific McCulla Ireland customer.
