Autumn 2006

Home and retail deliveries of the premium Smeg range of Italian cookers, fridges, dishwashers and washing machines are being handled in-house for the first time with a new fleet of Mercedes-Benz trucks. Smeg set up its own Portsmouth-based transport operation after its third-party logistics supplier went into receivership.

The fleet is made up of four 7.5-tonne Atego 815s and four 13-tonne Atego 1323s, all with high-roof, air-conditioned sleeper cabs. Smeg is also hiring extra fleet capacity from Mercedes-Benz CharterWay, the manufacturer's in-house vehicle finance arm, and Ryder to cover peak requirements.

More than 12,000 new Smeg appliances arrive at Portsmouth every month, and "a significant number" are said to go supplied to builders for installation in new homes, or direct to customers.