CoolWay Trans, since establishing around 10 years ago, has prospered in its national transportation within the temperature-controlled sector and Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) network. The business has grown from having one single vehicle to over 140 pieces of equipment.
Accompanied by an expanding national footprint, the company’s niche market has served it extremely well. CoolWay now runs distribution centres (DC) in every capital city in the country.
The fleet’s most recent expansion saw it relocate to a new and second site in Glendenning, New South Wales. Between the two locations, CoolWay has a total of around 9,000 square metres of DC and hardstands which offer cross-docking services, vehicle washing, refuelling, hardstand storage and preventative maintenance.
CoolWay Commercial Manager, Mark Williams, says the new facility allows the business to control its own destiny.
“We have the flexibility to maintain our equipment when it suits us during times where there might be a bit of downtime,” he says. “So, we can service them, we can maintain them, and we can keep them clean and tidy. We can control the direction of the business.”
From the beginning, Carrier Transicold had always been CoolWay’s preferred refrigeration supplier for its trailer and rigid units. It has also played a big part in the fleet’s growth – Coolway Managing Director, Sunny Ahmed, says Carrier has been the “driving force” behind this.
“Carrier has played a major role in the success of the company, because they make sure everything gets delivered on time, in temperature, and that’s what we sell for,” he says. “They have a major role in our operations.”
CoolWay recently took delivery of five B-double sets fitted with Carrier’s diesel-electric Vector HE19 refrigeration units. The combinations, which arrived last December, have already completed multiple trips to Perth and will soon travel routes from Sydney to Perth, Sydney to Adelaide and along the east coast of Australia carrying multi-temperature LTL pallets.
“They’ve been faultless,” Mark says. “With the finish on the trailers coupled up with the efficiency of the refrigeration units, they’ve been perfect. They basically haven’t stopped since we’ve taken delivery of them – from the initial install to all the pre-trip inspections that have been conducted on them.”
The individual trailers have also been used in a road train combination which travelled to Perth, and in an A-double combination between Sydney and Melbourne.
CoolWay has found the Vector HE19s throughout all of the 10 trailers to be extremely efficient on fuel. So much so, that its several trailer orders lined up for the near future are all set to feature Carrier’s all electric E-Drive technology.
“They give us that peace of mind that, whether we’re running confectionary chilled or frozen goods, they will maintain the temperature without any fault,” Mark says. “These new ones are a little bit over-specified for our setup, but they pull down quickly, they hold temperature and they’re extremely good on fuel. Once the doors are sealed up and they’re pulling down and have reached their temperature, they maintain it with the combination of the MaxiTRANS trailers.”
Image: Carrier Transicold.Carrier’s Vector HE 19 temperature-controlled trailer system features patented all-electric technology, which means the unit is powered by AC electricity generated by the diesel engine while in transit and also when plugged into mains power while stationary.
Since its launch, the internal architecture of the Vector HE 19 has been significantly redeveloped. Its modern design now reduces fuel consumption by up to 30 per cent, improves unit weight by 10 per cent, and brings lower noise levels with up to 15 per cent savings on maintenance costs, compared with predecessors.
The high efficiency unit has been built around Carrier Transicold’s E-Drive all-electric technology, which works by removing the mechanical transmissions found in conventional belt-driven equipment and engine power into electricity via a generator, which drives the refrigeration system. This provides the benefit of a sustaining refrigerant containment for a projected average annual leak rate of less than three per cent.
The Vector HE 19 system combines the E-Drive technology with an improved multi-speed engine design, bringing fuel savings of up to 30 per cent when compared to the previous Vector 1950 – the equivalent of saving 5.4 tonnes of CO2 annually. It is also 82kgs lighter, operates at 3dB (A) lower, and has engineless options available for emissions reductions.
To CoolWay, it was clear from the start that Carrier cares about its customers. When Sunny and Anna used to work from their home office, Carrier’s NSW Sales Manager, Darrin Klein, paid them a visit and made the decision for them for the unforeseeable future.
“He told me they treat everybody equally,” Sunny says. “To them, it didn’t matter if you buy one fridge or a hundred. It was the same.”
Now, CoolWay is replacing all of its fridges alongside Carrier.
“We are changing everything over 40,000 hours, and we haven’t had any breakdowns,” Sunny says. “Carrier has delivered and catered to all of our expectations. We are trying to be the best, and to be the best you have to partner with companies like Carrier who have the integrity and really do care about its customers.
“They’re such a big global brand and they still take care of all the little things for the small family-owned businesses, which is great. They will give you the best advice, not based on selling a product. They will give you the right product to suit the trailer, and that’s what I like about them. They’re an excellent company with an excellent product.”
Fast fact
The Carrier Vector HE19’s use of a hermetically sealed scroll compressor and economiser helps to deliver a 40 per cent increase in refrigeration capacity during pull-down, while reducing the chance of refrigerant escape by 50 per cent.
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