Nov/Dec 2009

Internet shopping for groceries, airline or cinema tickets - even cars - has been widely accepted in South Africa and although there is still some hesitation when it comes to purchasing a truck or a trailer on line, as a young Bob Dylan crooned back in the ‘60s, “the times they are a changing.”

It was with some surprise that FleetWatch learnt how a major South African civil engineering company tied up with a heavy-duty machinery manufacturer in mainland China resulting in the signing of two orders for seriously heavy-duty trailers to transport extreme loads for two new power stations currently under construction in South Africa. The common link between the parties was All Transport Needs (ATN) and the asset internet portal, Assitport.

“ATN was established in 1999 to provide one-stop networking of information across a broad spectrum of needs and services in the road transport sector,” director Mark Dickson explains. “Our objective then, as it is now, was to locate stock for local and international buyers who do not have time to drive around looking for a suitable vehicle for their needs.

“Initially we developed our own website to show off our stock and attract customers but more recently we have become an accredited Assitport.com online dealer leveraging Assitport’s network of clients and suppliers from all parts of the world. This network exposes buyers and sellers of trucks, trailers, buses and ancillary equipment.”

Dickson is quick to point out that Assitport is not an electronic yellow pages with a list of subscribers offering their many different services and their respective contact  details. “It is an online business system allowing independent dealers to compete with and play catch up with the more established and technologically advanced competitors.”

Dickson says a primary focus of ATN is to offer products and services throughout the vehicle lifecycle, including preowned vehicle buying/selling, accessories, financing and leasing, insurance, maintenance, and extended warranty agreements.

“Other services include load broking, tender information, used truck values, advice on road ordinance issues and operating cost estimates to name but a few. “In the foreseeable future,” Dickson continues, “bank repos, and insurance salvage will be available by on-line tender or auction thus completing the vehicle life cycle.”

Dickson says ATN has gone through some changes over the last few years with the introduction of Assitport as an online global trading platform.

“International trading through the internet is becoming the norm,” says Dickson, “Assitport is now able to penetrate markets in the heart of Africa and locate new and used vehicles from our network of suppliers all around the world.”

East meets West - a prime example of internet business in action. All Transport Needs directors, Alan and Mark Dickson, left and second from right, with Zhu Wenhau, second from left and Jerome Xu of Tiandi Heavy Duty Industries who met each other and concluded a lucrative business deal through the internet.

The Chinese connection

This brings us back to the Chinese connection mentioned earlier. Dickson explains that ATN was approached by leading South African civil engineering and construction company, Murray and Roberts, (M&R), to source specialised multiaxle trailers for use at Medupi and Kuseli power station construction projects.

“We were mandated to look anywhere in the world to see what was on offer,” Dickson says, adding that the initial search resulted in locating a number of new and used trailers in Europe but the prices were extremely high and delivery too long.

Co-incidentally, while all of this was going on, ATN was approached, through the Assitport portal, by Tiandi Heavy Duty Industries in China for representation in southern Africa. A scrutiny of the company’s website, a number of Skype calls and emails showed that Tiandi’s products could be just what M&R were looking for.

ATN initiated communications between the parties and shortly after this, representatives from M&R visited the manufacturing facility in China while, in turn, representatives from Tiandi visited South Africa. The result is a contract for two multi-axled trailers signed and sealed at the end of October.

Dickson says while the pricing of the Chinese equipment was in line with what M&R were willing to pay, (more or less half of the price of the competitors) so too was the delivery date which is also about half that of similar equipment manufacturing concerns in Europe.

The contract calls for one 10 axle drawbar trailer with a capacity of 225 tons pulled by a specially adapted agricultural tractor and one 10 axle self propelled modular trailer which comes fitted with a 200 kW MAN diesel engine. The trailers are scheduled to be put into service early in 2010.

This is not the first international deal ATN has handled. In addition to this latest venture, ATN has been involved in a number of international, arms-length truck deals conducted over the internet including:

• Five trucks and trailers, a bulldozer and back actor from ATN’s Johannesburg stock to a Canadian Mining Company when they established a new mine in Angola.

• A German Hunger Relief NGO bought a new 8 ton 4x4 for delivery in Zimbabwe.

• A Red Cross fleet of refrigerated trucks based in Malawi was sold by ATN to an operator in Zimbabwe; and,

• Tanktainers for a Kuwait chemical company sourced in South Africa.

In a final comment, Dickson says: “The conclusion of the contract between Tiandi and M&R underscores the power of the internet and the future of business and trade not only in this country but on a global scale.”