THE DEFINITIVE TRUCKING SITE

Nov/Dec 2008

Launched in 2005, the competition which has grown in stature every year was initiated out of a need to improve and recognise top performance in customer service operations. 

The competition among the drivers from Engen depots all over the country has proved so successful that the company has introduced similar contests into other areas of the business. Now there are Workshop and Depot of the Year awards and a customer service centre award. 

Asked what Engen hoped to achieve through the awards, Llewellyn Snyman, Transport Operations manager, says the goals are to improve standards and driving skills, increase the focus on health, safety, the environment and quality (HSEQ), enhance customer service and reduce operating costs. Snyman adds that the awards also serve as a motivational and development tool. 

Snyman says they are also looking for consistency across the board.  The aim is for the drivers to achieve 100% error-free performance for 12 months. This gets them into Engen’s “Club 1200,” and a chance to compete against other drivers in regional competitions. The top six drivers in each region then go through to the national competition.

The national driver competition includes a theoretical exam, (including HSEQ procedures), a pre-trip inspection test, road test, an obstacle track, fuel economy, fire extinguishing simulation and customer service. 

Snyman reports that Engen’s drivers have performed particularly well outside of the company with a former Engen DOTY winner, Marius Coetzee, winning the 2008 National Road Freight Association South African Driver of the Year Award. Engen drivers also took second, third and fifth positions in the competition. 

There is, however, more to the Engen Doty competition than just improving the company’s performance and pleasing customers Snyman says, adding that “the enthusiasm and camaraderie between the drivers has placed a very human face to the competition.” 

Speaking at the awards function held at the Boardwalk Casino, Engen operations manager Jeeva Chetty describes the competition as: “The highlight of the year for the drivers and everyone involved in putting this show together. 

“Our drivers are more than just truck drivers. They are professionals and deserve to be treated as such.” 

“Out on the road,” Chetty says, “our driver’s are in charge of R2 million worth of equipment and a valuable and very dangerous cargo. They are not allowed to make even the smallest mistake and they do this day-after-day, year-after-year. It is not a cushy job. It is hard and very stressful work. These men and women have earned the right to be respected and rewarded for their efforts.” 

Further to this, Chetty says Engen has long recognised the drivers as being at the frontline of its business: “They are the people directly interacting with the customers. But more than this they have a set of procedures and duties that takes them beyond the realm of the average truck driver. 

“Apart from the fact they are transporting dangerous goods on all types of roads in all types of weather which is dangerous  enough in itself, they also carry a variety of different products on a single vehicle. One simple mistake, a momentary lapse of care and attention, and the consequences could be very costly.” 

Chetty’s words are reiterated by the other members of Engen’s management team who mount the podium to pay their respects and hand over the awards to the winners and the runners up. 

“It is not often acknowledged how the fuel we take for granted gets to the neighbourhood petrol station,” says Vukile Zondane, Engen’s GM, Sales and Marketing. “To a greater or lesser degree the drivers are not just the lifeblood of our company, they are an essential element in our economy.” 

The Engen Drivers of the Year 2008 are Deon du Preez of East London in the rigid category and Russel Khan of Milnerton in the articulated class. 

The runners up were: Hans van der Watt (Kroonstad) and Lukas Mthimunye (Witbank) - 2nd and 3rd place, Rigid; and Paul Turner (Milnerton) and Yugandran Reddy (Wentworth) - 2nd and 3rd placed, Articulated.