Russian retailer Lenta has purchased 130 new MAN trucks with refrigerated semitrailers, which the company says will improve its supply chain performance.
The new vehicles will be used to deliver goods from distribution centres to Lenta stores, as well as on a number of inter-regional routes operating between Central Russia and the South.
"The expansion of our hypermarket and supermarket network across Russia considerably increases our distribution volumes as well as our delivery points," said Joern Arnhold, Lenta's supply chain director.
"With the purchase of these new trucks, we have almost doubled our fleet.”
Efficiency And Expansion
With this purchase, over 60% of the goods delivered to Lenta's store network from the company's distribution centres will now be covered by its own vehicles. Additionally, the new trucks are powered by high fuel efficiency diesel engines.
"Rates for transport hire have risen steadily since early 2017, making the use of our own vehicles economically viable on a larger number of routes," added Arnhold.
"The new vehicles will improve the performance of our supply chain with the increase in quality and reliability of the deliveries."
Lenta has been expanding its store network significantly in the last year, and now operates 217 hypermarkets in 79 cities across Russia, as well as 72 supermarkets in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and the Central region.
Last month, the retailer announced that total sales grew by 18.7% in the third quarter of its 2017 financial year, increasing to RUB 89.6 billion.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
