Parcelforce Worldwide, Royal Mail’s UK parcel division, has invested in more than 1,000Mercedes-Benz ecological vans to make its fleet more environment-friendly, according to UK media
reports.Parcelforce has ordered 1,106 Sprinter vans, all fitted with innovative ECO-Start technologythat saves fuel and thus reduces exhaust emissions. The ECO-Start system automatically cuts theengine whenever the vehicle is stationary for two seconds, and starts it again as the driverdepresses the clutch.
The company’s testers put the vehicles through an exhaustive trial process enablingMercedes-Benz to fine-tune the specification of the vehicles to meet its customer’s preciserequirements.
Parcelforce Worldwide Managing Director David Smith said: “We take our environmental andcommunity responsibilities very seriously. We have a comprehensive programme of activities toreduce our impact on the environment and to invest in third-party environmental initiatives.”
Based at depots across the UK, the Sprinter 311CDIs have replaced a large proportion of theParcelforce Worldwide van fleet, which provides express delivery to all 27 million addresses acrossthe UK.
Michael Anderson, Parcelforce Worldwide’s Head of Innovation, added: “The Sprinter ECO-Startsupports Parcelforce Worldwide’s environmental policy. We’re looking for these vehicles to deliversomething in the region of a 5% fuel saving.
