Nisa Retail has managed to slash costs and emissions associated with transporting food and drink by taking on a new fleet of double-deck trailers and loading systems.

The design of the 10 new Transdek trailers means more goods can be carried in one load, saving the member-owned independent food retail group more than £400,000 a year.

The Wedge double-deck trailers will cut carbon dioxide emissions by more than 730,000 kg a year on the third party logistics contract that DHL Supply Chain operates on its behalf.

Nisa dispatches more than 2.7 million cases each week and operates a large ambient picking warehouse in Scunthorpe, and three temperature controlled picking depots at Livingston, Stoke and Harlow, supported by seven other logistics locations.

The new trailers have enabled the group to remove 1,300 trunks from its transport network and cut nearly 510,000 miles from its vehicle routes annually – saving about 273,000 litres of diesel a year.

Lee Vickers, head of logistics at Nisa Retail, said Transdek’s equipment had meant Nisa was using about 25 fewer trucks a week because of the extra floor space and weight capacity at a time “when innovation and reducing cost is critical in the convenience sector in order to remain competitive”.

Transdek has also installed four of its five-pallet hydraulic double deck lifts at Nisa distribution centres, and a 12.5 tonne double-deck modular loadhouse at the Scunthorpe warehouse to support high-volume loading.