Fife Creamery updates fleet with 30 all-new Fuso Canters

Fife Creamery has ordered 30 new Fuso Canter 7.5-tonners to update its fleet.

The family-run firm will use the new vehicles to deliver chilled, frozen and speciality ambient products to a broad customer base that includes independent sandwich bars, butcher’s shops, local convenience stores and large retail chains, as well as restaurants and hotels, universities and colleges, hospitals and other publicly-owned institutions.

The company purchased its first Fuso Canters in 2014. These are now being stood down, along with a number of Mercedes-Benz Atego 7.5-tonners from 2012 and 2013, although the company continues to operate nine Canters from 2019-20.

The fleet also includes five 18-tonne Actros – a sixth is on order – that pull drawbar trailers and are allocated to more distant runs, or those involving particularly high volumes.

Fife Creamery favours the Fuso for its industry-leading payload allowance and impressive fuel-efficiency, as well as the compact dimensions and agility that make it ideally suited to multi-drop delivery work in town and city centres.

Its latest examples are easily distinguished from their predecessors by their redesigned cab, which features a new ‘face’. The new Canter is more comfortable than the version it replaces, thanks in part to the improved insulation that reduces in-cab noise, while reinforced rear underrun protection minimises the impact in the event of an accident.

The Canter also comes with a three-year, unlimited mileage warranty but, as previously, Fife Creamery has taken out additional ExtendPlus cover that provides a further two years’ peace of mind.

A newly developed, compact exhaust system means the new model also meets the EURO VI – STEP E emission standard. As 7C18 variants, Fife Creamery’s trucks employ 3.0-litre common-rail powerplants that generate 175hp and up to 430Nm of torque, and drive through dual-clutch automated manual transmissions.   

Long-standing supplier Gray & Adams builds and fits the Canters’ dual-compartment, insulated bodywork at its Dunfermline manufacturing facility, where it also installs the dual-temperature Thermo King V-800 Series refrigeration units.

Richard Wishart, logistics manager at Fife Creamery, said: “The Canter is not a long-haul truck but it’s excellent for the kind of intensive delivery work that we undertake in busy urban centres such as Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.      

“Despite the fridge body, and with a driver and full tanks of fuel and AdBlue also factored in, ours will still take a 3.0-tonne payload – that’s almost a tonne more than you’d get on a conventional 7.5-tonner. At 18 miles per gallon, the Canter is also comfortably ahead in terms of fuel economy, and this contributes to its overall cost-effectiveness.

“We work these vehicles hard,” he continued. “Each will typically clock-up 70,000 miles a year, so the fact that the Canter is backed by Mercedes-Benz, and we can get a full five years’ warranty cover, is another important plus.”