Galt Transport Delivers Edinburgh’s Christmas Tree

Galt Transportdelivering Edinburgh's Christmas tree to The Mound, Edinburgh

Galt Transport, of Dumbarton, has successfully delivered Edinburgh’s Christmas tree, using its recently acquired Mercedes Actros 6x2 tag axle tractor unit and one of its Nooteboom extending rear-steering trailers.

The traditional site – The Mound, in the city centre – sits, as the name suggests, on a hill with several turns on the road making manoeuvring quite challenging.

‘We reversed the trailer into site and took advantage of the trailer’s independent steering, which can be managed by remote control, to allow us to manoeuvre the load into this challenging site.’ said Operations Director Andrew Galt.

He explains that transporting the 55 foot Christmas tree meant minimally extending the trailer to support it along its length for the journey from Strathallan in Perthshire.

Galt says the firm took delivery of the new 68-tonne gvw Actros in May 2015, from Western Commercials Govan – staying with Mercedes-Benz because of ‘the reliability and service, in addition to the flexibility and cost efficiency’ of its trucks.

‘Our new truck can operate under Sepcial types at STGO class 2’ says Galt.

‘This is achieved through upgraded suspension and axles, rather than changing to a hub reduction system’ he continues.

‘Since the vehicle has the same drive ratios as the standard 44-tonne truck there isn’t a penalty in fuel efficiency, and the vehicle is currently returning between 9 and 10 mpg.’

The Nooteboom used for the Christmas tree transport was a triple extending, fully steered trailer – one of two in Galt’s trailer fleet.