In Transit takes Mercs to Truckfest
In Transit Light Transport will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this summer, by touring truck shows with its Euro 6 Mercedes-Benz New Actros GigaSpace flagship and a 1993 SK unit by the same manufacturer. Both will wear special liveries to mark the milestone.
Husband-and-wife team Barrie and Jayne Smith started their Coventry-based business with a single van. Today, with the couple still at the helm, it runs 50 trucks and specialises in emergency haulage and same-day deliveries, as well as offering European transport and worldwide air freight services.
More than half of In Transit Light Transport’s vehicles are by Mercedes-Benz – the line-up includes tractor units from previous generations of Actros, 10 6×2 Axors purchased last year after it won a prestigious contract from parcels carrier City Link, and a Euro 5 New Actros 2545 BigSpace.
The latest addition to the fleet is the New Actros 2551 with range-topping GigaSpace cab and 375 kW (510 hp) Euro 6 engine. It was supplied, like the company’s other Mercedes-Benz vehicles, by Coventry Dealer Midlands Truck & Van, and features an airbrush celebration by St Neots-based artist Paul Yeoman of Mr Smith’s favourite movie, Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 classic Pulp Fiction (pictured).
In Transit plans to attend no fewer than seven Truckfests nationwide in 2014, starting with the Peterborough event on 4-5 May. The SK unit is being loaned to the company by the manufacturer.
“Our business continues to grow strongly but this is also a good time to sit back and take stock,” said Barrie Smith. “Jayne and I are very proud of the company that we’ve built over the last two decades, and we’re looking forward to getting out and about to celebrate this important anniversary with friends from across the industry.”
Mr Smith continued: “Our Mercedes-Benz trucks have always been very reliable and durable, while the newer models are also impressively fuel-efficient. The New Actros Big Space, for example, is assigned to our Caterpillar contract and pulling plant and machinery on a low-loader trailer from Leicestershire to the ports of Hull and Tilbury. It’s returning comfortably in excess of eight mpg, whereas the older vehicles on the same job are in the 7s.”
He added: “Midlands Truck & Van look after any warranty work but everything else is done in our own workshop. We benefit from very competitive prices on high-quality Mercedes-Benz parts, so much so that we also fit them to other truck brands.
“We also like the fact that minor accident damage is relatively easy and inexpensive to repair on our Mercedes, because you can buy individual panels in uniform colours, rather than complete sections – an entire bumper, for example – that have then to be painted. It means that whereas another make of truck might be off the road for three days, with a Mercedes you can get the job done in three hours.”
