Direct Freight Express bolsters fleet with IVECO Stralis

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Prime Mover Magazine  /  June 11, 2019

Road service carrier, Direct Freight Express (DFE), has added an additional 10 IVECO Stralis 4x2 low roof AT models to its intrastate fleet to haul a range of palletised goods.

DFE now has 15 IVECO Stralis trucks in its fleet.

DFE National Operations Manager, Jason Elliott, said that for single trailer urban and metro delivery, it was difficult to go past the Stralis.

“We’ve operated Stralis for a number of years now in single trailer work around town and have been impressed with how they’ve performed, this was one of the main reason why we again went with Stralis with the latest trucks,” said Elliott.

The trucks feature Series II Cursor 13 engines producing 460hp and 2100Nm of torque and are matched to 12-speed Eurotronic Automated Manual Transmissions. It is a driveline that when combined with rear 4-bag ECAS (Electronically-Controlled Air Suspension), provides a solid platform for the application, according to the commercial vehicle manufacturer.  

“These trucks normally operate towards the top of the weight ranges (up to a Gross Combination Mass of 44 tonnes) but have more than enough power to do the job," said Elliott. "They also have a fantastic turning circle which is important for deliveries around town."

Other key considerations in the purchase of the Stralis models were driver comfort and safety features, areas in which the vehicles perform strongly, according to Elliott.

“The Stralis are well equipped with safety features and are really comfortable to drive in city conditions, our drivers really like them,” he said.

DFE service and maintain their vehicles internally and reportedly prefer to keep equipment on fleet for the longer term, gradually changing a vehicle’s work demands as it ages.

“We might have a prime mover that is on interstate work for several years, as it ages we could reassign it to metro work where it will cover less kilometres, and ultimately it might end up being used as a terminal tractor at one of our depots," said Elliott. “If a truck has been well maintained and looked after it makes sense to do this and you can get a lot of life out of them.”

Jason also said that the Stralis’ are straight forward to maintain.

“The Stralis are easy to work on, and we’ve not had any issues with them over the time we’ve run them,” he said. “For what you get in the Stralis, which is a well-rounded overall package for this sort of application, they provide us with so much 'bang for our buck'."

Last month, IVECO confirmed the first locally produced group of Stralis X-Way models rolled from the manufacturing facility to dealerships across Australia.

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