The company, which makes more than 190 million deliveries annually, received its second significant order with Europe’s largest trailer manufacturer in just three years based on calculations suggesting it could help reduce annual fuel costs and 1,464kg in CO2 savings per trailer.

“We were hugely impressed with the scale of the potential savings presented by the UK team at Schmitz Cargobull, which align closely with the sustainability goals of our business. Yodel has already made great strides in reducing our climate impact and this marks another step in our sustainability journey.” says Pasqualino Vaccarella, Regional Compliance Manager at Yodel.

“With the lighter weight of the S.BO PACE trailer compared to some of its competitors, we expect to see some tangible benefits in the first year of operation, including substantial improvements in fuel economy across the fleet.”

Schmitz Cargobull’s production plant in Manchester moved quickly to turn around the order – building and delivering all the trailers within the space of four months.

The S.BO PACE trailers will operate the length and breadth of England, Scotland and Wales, covering all 47 of Yodel’s service centres as well as its three national sortation hubs.

The new arrivals join a 1,845-strong fleet including more than 1,100 single deck trailers, 343 tractor units and 221 vans, each expected to clock up around 145,000km per year.

Designed for courier express parcel services transport, the S.BO PACE offers a weight saving of up to 700kg over traditional dry-freight trailer designs thanks to its STRUKTOPLAST panels – lightweight, polypropylene honeycomb-shaped core panels –which increases payload capability and leads to a significant reduction in fuel costs and CO2 emissions over the lifecycle of the trailer.

Yodel’s latest order with Schmitz Cargobull follows a £14m investment in its fleet over 2023, helping to meet growing demand and improve efficiency.

Vaccarella commended Schmitz Cargobull’s “fantastic” service, adding: “We’ve strengthened our relationship with the team who not only supported us all the way through the trailer build and aftercare but also got behind Yodel during our road safety week event and various other business initiatives. It’s a very productive partnership.”