Acela Truck Company and Mopec, a provider of mortuary equipment and supplies, recently formed a partnership Acela says helps to expand its growing rental fleet of purpose-built refrigerated mobile morgue trailers.
Belgrade MT-based Acela, a manufacturer of specialty vehicles and rapid response mortuary trailers, says the fleet expansion is in response to pandemic-created needs and multi-casualty incidents; and the new partnership will help both U.S. companies overcome the challenges encountered during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the initial emergency response to the novel coronavirus, emergency managers, hospitals, morgues and funeral homes were forced to utilize standard, repurposed food delivery trailers to try to deal with the onslaught of fatalities. The logistical and functional challenges of using standard food trailers—such as a lack of proper shelving, lifts, lighting, safe and easy-to-use ramps and railings, along with lack of accessible loading and unloading—quickly became apparent, Acela said. Operators went looking for a viable solution.
“Our rental program offers easy to deploy, medical-grade assets to our frontline workers that demand and deserve safe and reliable tools while also providing a respectful and dignified temporary home for the deceased,” said David Ronsen, president of Acela.
The Mopec-Acela partnership to provide critical response capability to communities includes Mopec’s world-class morgue storage equipment and Acela’s purpose-built morgue trailers.
“We are very enthused about the opportunity to partner with Acela,” said Jay Troger, CEO of Mopec. “Working together, we will be more effective in assuring that health workers are kept safe through the body-handling process, and decedents are handled with the respect that they deserve.”
Each Acela 53-foot trailer is fully equipped with storage for up to 70 bodies. The mobile morgues are outfitted with custom lifts, ramp systems, seamless interior surfaces, and customized and expandable racking systems that accommodate industry standard equipment.
Visit acelatruck.com to learn more.
