Ryder System on Tuesday, Feb. 15, announced that it is expanding and refreshing its North American rental fleet with 6,700 new trucks, tractors, trailers and vans to meet accelerating demand as the economy continues to rebound. The new vehicles – which represent multiple classes of tractors, trailers, refrigerated equipment, box trucks and light-duty vans – will expand Ryder’s commercial rental fleet and replace older model vehicles that are being retired.
The 2011 refresh adds to the recent infusion of 4,900 new vehicles introduced in 2010 to accommodate anticipated economic growth. Together, the nearly 12,000 new vehicles raise the percentage of model-year-2010 or newer vehicles in the fleet to more than 40 percent and the total fleet count to nearly 30,000.
“This investment represents the second phase of a fleet refresh we launched last year in anticipation of increased demand from both rental and lease customers requiring supplemental capacity in a recovering economy,” says Mark Cicchini, vice president of Rental for Ryder. “With this purchase, we can ensure that we continue to respond to our North American customers’ diverse requirements with a positive Ryder experience.”
To determine the scope and breadth of the vehicle order, Ryder examined utilization and market trends across its customer base. “Last year we identified increasing demand across all classes of vehicles – light-duty vans and trucks, medium-duty trucks, heavy-duty day cabs and sleeper tractors, and dry, refrigerated and flatbed trailers,” Cicchini says. “This year, we’re seeing even more of an uptick in demand.” Ryder also has added more refrigerated equipment to help customers comply with recent food safety legislation and more environmentally-friendly emissions standards in certain regions, he says.
Ryder says all of the model-year-2010 or newer vehicles comply with the latest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2010 emissions standards to provide customers with access to clean trucks that help them to meet their own objectives for reducing emissions and minimizing environmental impact. The company already has begun integrating the new equipment into its fleet and will continue to roll out new vehicles through April. As vehicles are retired from Ryder’s rental fleet, they will become part of the company’s used vehicle inventory.
