SOUTHAMPTON-BASED container specialist Pentalver has invested in a new fleet of 26 Mercedes-Benz tractor units.

All Actros 2545 models with range-topping GigaSpace cabs, they arrived via south coast Dealer Marshall Truck & Van and are now working from the Port of Southampton.

The new trucks have replaced a previous fleet of Actros which had provided reliable, cost-effective service since 2013. The operator has again signed up to a contract hire agreement with Mercedes-Benz Financial Services.

Key to Pentalver’s decision to specify its latest vehicles with optional Mercedes-Benz Safety Packs was its acquisition last May by the US-based Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W), a global operator of short line and regional railways.

As with their predecessors, the new Actros are now being inspected and serviced at Marshall Truck & Van’s service centre on Southampton’s Nursling Industrial Estate.

Pentalver’s Southampton Transport Manager Russell Baker added: “We have great relationships with Marshall’s workshop team, who provide a high level of communication and an exemplary service; we know that when the pressure’s on we can always rely on their support. The same is true of the Dealer’s Truck Sales Manager Tony Wright – if he says he can do something, he’ll always do it.”

Pentalver Transport commenced trading from the Port of Southampton in 1980 with 16 trucks. Today, the Pentalver Group is a leading provider of container-related activities in the UK and operates a fleet of 151 tractor units, while sister company Freightliner, which specialises in rail freight, also runs 217 tractors.

The firm's five sites – it also has a purpose-built container facility in Cannock and other depots in Felixstowe, Tilbury and London Gateway – offer a combined 37,500 TEU (standard 20ft-long shipping container) capacity.