How many trucks does it take to supply a football pitch?

A single football pitch needs 24 trucks for a full turf installation, and the arrival of each truck has to be precisely timed at intervals of 45 minutes. 

Refrigerated trucks are a common sight on the roads, playing a pivotal role in taking perishable food to supermarkets, or medicines to pharmacies. But sometimes the trucks have an unexpected mission: taking turf to a football stadium. Championship football pitches need high-quality turf, grown under carefully controlled conditions and transported to the stadium by a group of refrigerated trucks.

Temperature-controlled and timed

County Turf, a family business in Lincolnshire, England, relies on DSV to plan and carry out the transportation of premium turf to sports venues. A single football pitch needs 24 trucks for a full turf installation, and the arrival of each truck has to be precisely timed at intervals of 45 minutes.

During the trip to the stadium, the temperature first has to be lowered and then altered to various settings during transit to raise the temperature slowly. This ensures that the turf – or grass – is in optimal condition on arrival at its destination.

We’ve been very pleased with DSV’s planning – we need a large number of refrigerated trucks precisely timed and with no delays.

Andy Fraser, Managing Director at County Turf

With decades of experience in transporting perishables by road, DSV owns 500 refrigerated trucks and has the flexibility to allocate a large number to a single job. Drivers are specially trained and certified for temperature-controlled transport and can monitor and report temperature throughout the journey. 

Read our white paper about transport of perishable goods

About County Turf

Since 1995, County Turf has been growing premium quality golf turf, sports pitch turf and landscape and lawn turf. The company has established a reputation for excellent customer service and supplies sports stadiums, golf courses, architects, landscapers and wholesalers. Some of the well-known venues are Stade de France, the London 2012 Olympics and the Hampden Park Commonwealth Games 2014. Fact check needed: Did they really arrive in 45-minute intervals?