In one of Serco’s biggest and most significant deals of 2020, the company has built 28 refrigerated vehicles for a national transport company.

The 24 state-of-the-art Protec Steel Frostliner trailers and four truck bodies have been delivered to the client, Sequence Logistics, and are in use transporting frozen and fresh food throughout South Africa from its branches in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

The multi-million rand deal is seen as a reflection of Sequence Logistics’ faith in the South African economy despite all the challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic as well as their confidence in the quality and affordability of Serco products.

Mr Gerhard Coetzee, Finance Director of Sequence Logistics which provides temperature-controlled distribution, warehousing, and supply chain services, said he was very pleased with his company’s new acquisitions.  “After looking at all the options on the market we gave the full order to Serco as overall they offered the most. The purchases were part of our fleet replacement and expansion programme which we are pursuing aggressively so further business with us could be in the pipeline for Serco.

“What really impressed us,” said Coetzee, “is the technology Serco is using – the Protec steel panels are definitely the feature and the technology needed for a better solution for the long term which is exactly what we want.”

He said new signage had been branded on all the trailers by Iconic Solutions while the majority of the fridge units were installed by GEA.

Serco sales representative who handled the deal, Corine Opperman, said one of the biggest challenges had been to meet the set delivery deadline. “The team worked hard to meet the deadline!”

CEO of Serco Clinton Holcroft said with not a lot of business around there had been hectic competition for the Sequence Logistics contract. “So I see it as a feather in our cap that after appraising all the different options available they decided the value proposition we offer is the best and gave us the whole order.”