Maritime welcome the Next Generation

Maritime Transport Ltd (Maritime), a leading container transport and distribution operator, has invested in Scania’s Next Generation truck, trialing its efficiency, sustainability, driver comfort and overall performance.

Following John Williams’ acquisition of the business back in 2001, Scania and their vehicles have been an integral part of Maritime. As a result of Maritime’s year on year growth for the past 16 years, purchasing a Scania has become the norm, and this year has been no exception with a purchase of over 100 new Scania trucks, which includes five of the Next Generation vehicle following its release in August 2016.

“All five of our Next Generation Scania’s have now arrived and been integrated onto our fleet,” said Stuart Wardlaw, Fleet Director. “Of the five Next Generation vehicles, three are the R450 and two are the S500. We’ve based them at several of our depot locations and each of our Driver Trainers, for those locations, has received specialist training on the new vehicle to ensure we maximise their potential whilst they’re on fleet.”

With a fleet of over 1,000 vehicles, spread across 27 strategically placed locations throughout the UK, fuel efficiency, driver comfort and safety are vital when introducing new models. With Maritime’s commitment to sustainability, along with Scania’s investment in increased fuel efficiency, the Next Generation Scania has so far been a welcomed addition to their ever-growing fleet.

"We were delighted when Maritime placed their order earlier this year and their iconic blue and white livery looks fantastic on the Next Generation Scania."

In an honest review of the new vehicle, based on it’s performance, comfort and standard of equipment, Maritime Driver Trainer, Steve Smith, provided some feedback.

“Driving a mixture of motorways, dual carriageways, single carriageways and side roads, the first thing I noticed was how quiet the engine is. It still has the Scania trade mark low revving, high torque engine but there was little wind noise whilst driving on motorways. The torque coming out of the 450 and 500hp engines at 950 revs is virtually the same at 1,400 revs ensuring the engine gives a smooth increase in road speed and uses as little fuel as possible. The gear box has been improved significantly, giving a near seamless gear change as the vehicle increases speed and the deep windscreen and new style mirrors offer good all round vision. These features, combined with some of the vehicles nifty new fittings, including a larger bed, pull out table for mealtimes and an immensely improved drivers seat, meant I found the Scania R450 to be a lovely drive that ticks a lot of the boxes.”

“Whilst developing our Next Generation Vehicles,  we’ve had the future in mind every step of the way” said Kevin Lanksford, Fleet and Specialist Vehicles Sales Director - Scania. “We share a belief with Maritime that sustainability is essential in business, along with performance and efficiency and so we’ve tried to encompass this in our new generation trucks. We were delighted when Maritime placed their order earlier this year and their iconic blue and white livery looks fantastic on the Next Generation Scania.”