Hard landscaping company Marshalls has replaced a third of its fleet of 350 lorries with trucks and trailers from contract hire specialist Ryder.

Marshalls is a major supplier of hard landscaping products, including natural stone from its own quarries in the UK and imported. It has 20 operating centres throughout the UK, including quarries and manufacturing plants. And it has all those trucks in a nationwide distribution system to fulfil its three-day delivery promise to builders’ merchants, landscaping businesses and construction companies. 

In 2019, Marshalls was ready to replace around a third of its vehicle fleet and issued a formal tender to test the market.

The company assessed various options and selected Ryder.

Its relationship with Ryder had begun in 2008 with eight vehicles. Since then Marshalls has been sourcing an increasing proportion of its vehicle fleet from Ryder. The latest order is its biggest yet.

The new order is for 100 DAF XF480 tractor units with ‘Space’ cabs. It takes Ryder’s share of the Marshalls fleet to more than 240 vehicles and trailers – two-thirds of it.

Inevitably, a key focus of procurement on this scale is risk management. This covers not only the financial scale of the deal and the need to choose a reliable partner, but also the requirement to maintain a consistent and reliable approach in supporting a complex transport operation with a large number of new vehicles.

Jonathan Galvin, category manager in Marshalls’ procurement department, says: “We know that Ryder is a long-standing and stable business. We also value highly the fact that Ryder uses its own funds and has the financial backing of a major US corporation.

“Ryder has more than 20,000 vehicles themselves, so we also benefitted from their buying power in the market to secure the financial terms that meet our business needs.”

John Robinson, Ryder’s Director – Fleet Sales, has worked alongside Marshalls since the company’s first contact with Ryder. “We’ve worked really hard to understand the demands of Marshalls’ transport operation, which is complex and involves a large number and wide range of vehicle types.

“I think our size and strength as a business give us a real advantage in supporting a transport operation as large and diverse as Marshalls.

“This latest order takes our fleet to more than 100 tractor units with Marshalls, plus a further 90 drawbar prime movers, drawbar trailers and semi-trailers. In addition, we are supplying Marshalls with a fleet of more than 40 roll loader cranes, and a small fleet of tipper trucks that are used in their quarrying operations.”

Jonathan Galvin says: “We’ve used a variety of vehicle marques over the years, but DAF is particularly well liked. The vehicles are robust, reliable and the fuel efficiency is competitive.

“Driver acceptance is also important. We have an excellent team of highly trained drivers, and it’s business-critical that we retain them in the face of driver shortages in the industry. We worked closely with our Drivers’ Forum on the final specification of the new vehicles to ensure we captured their input.”

The drivers can stand upright in the cabs, which are equipped with fridges and microwaves to make life more comfortable. Drivers can spend up to nine hours in their cabs when they are trunking and several days and nights when they are tramping.

Vehicle uptime is key to achieving the Marshalls’ delivery promise. Ryder’s rental fleet fills in if a vehicle is off the road or extra vehicles are needed in busy times, but the con-tract with Ryder covers full maintenance and compliance supported by Ryder’s Fleet-Care maintenance network.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are used to monitor compliance performance in order to improve efficiency and drive continuous improvement. These are reported to the Marshalls team on a monthly basis. 

The first of the latest new vehicles joined the Marshalls fleet in late 2019, with around five vehicles being introduced into the fleet each week thereafter.

From ethical products to ethical transport

Marshalls is well known for leading the way in ethical and environmental standards. In the New Year’s Honours list in 2019 Chris Harrop, the Group’s Marketing & Sustainability Director, was made an OBE, and the group’s trucks and drivers carry the Marshalls message to stamp out modern slavery.

It has also achieved ISO 14001 and ISO 5001 and sustainability is a key corporate priority for Marshalls, and that includes its vehicle fleet. David Grogut, asset engineering manager at Ryder, says: “Maximising fuel efficiency and reducing CO₂ emissions are key priorities for Marshalls. The vehicles tend to carry heavy loads, so in addition to ensuring the correct powertrain and differential ratios are specified, we also looked at all options for reducing vehicle weight.”

Naturally, all the new vehicles are Euro-6 compliant, which, while well-established in transport as a whole, is new to Marshalls.

A ‘train the trainer’ programme run by DAF and Ryder focussed on how to get the best out of the new technology. This covered issues such as maximising the use of cruise control for improved fuel efficiency and reduced CO₂ emissions.

“The training was rolled out across Marshalls’ driver team and has been really well received, giving them a head start on how to operate their new vehicles in the most efficient and effective way,” adds Ryder contract manager Siân Caldecourt.

And the trucks and their drivers carry the Marshalls message to combat modern slavery, using a logo that Marshalls has made available to other fleet operators, allowing them to personalise it with their own company name. Anyone operator wanting to use the ‘End Modern Slavery’ logo on their vehicles can contact Elaine Mitchel-Hill, the Business & Human Rights Lead at Marshalls, on poweroflogistics@marshalls.co.uk.

Working with Crimestoppers, Marshalls hopes to engage more transport and logistics business of all sizes in this campaign during 2021.