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CONTENTS
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Five powerful new western Star
rigs have added new muscle to the Car Towing Service fleet
You don't get to be the country's biggest heavy-duty towing outfit without having some solid business principles and practices firmly lodged in your company culture. And, most importantly, you get to hold the title by nurturing people, be they colleagues or customers. For Car Towing Services (CTS), success has come through three decades of 'best practice' service to a mind-boggling array of heavy machinery in need of a helping hand. Writes
Paul Collings, FleetWatch senior journalist.
Family Values
Started in 1973 by Henry (Oom Raubie) Raubenheimer and now managed by his sons, Gustav and Rickus, CTS has consistently differentiated itself from the ordinary tow truck operator by always acting in a client's best interests. In the words of Oom Raubie, "when a guy is down, don't trample him -lift him up." It's a question of ethics, of having sound people skills, and this ethos runs right through CTS. People are the company's most valued resource and technicians are sent overseas often to be trained on the latest towing and vehicle recovery systems. The remarkably low staff turnover attests to the levels of job satisfaction enjoyed by all CTS personnel. Says Gustav, "We enjoy our work - every day is different." And here lies the rub...
A heavy-duty tower is a special breed of emergency rescue operative. "They have to work in really harsh conditions like storms and snow, in the bush, mud and mountainous country," explains Gustav, "and they can be called out anywhere, at anytime, including New Year's Day!" Besides a dedication to the task, a CTS tow man is more than an ace truck driver. He's also a recovery and HAZMAT specialist and a mechanic, often required to work on a stricken vehicle in order to make it towable.
What keeps their job interesting, says Gustav, is that they never know what to expect when they head out to recover a vehicle: often it's a truck or bus but sometimes it's a massive crane or a helicopter or a block of granite that needs salvaging. Whatever the wreck, wherever duty takes them, CTS crewmen are diligent and remain calm under pressure because they know they're equipped with the best tools for the job and the skills with which to use them.
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Wherever duty takes them, these new Western Stars are equipped tn handle whatever is thrown their way. |
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Keeping the fleet clean ensures a good image for the company in the eyes of the public. |
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When this new Western Star decked in CTS' attractive corporate colours arrives at an accident scene, you just know the recovery is in the hands of professionals. |
Their backbone is a monster truck
Because the workload (and type of salvage job) varies so much, CTS needs towing trucks and accessories that can lift up to sixty tons as well as handle unusual recoveries (like an earth mover with its load bucket pinned to the ground by heavy rock and its rear-end hovering in mid-air). The stalwarts of the CTS fleet are Western Star trucks supplied by DaimlerChrysler. "They're rugged and strong," says Gustav. "You can manhandle them!"
His company has just taken delivery of five new custom-built Western Star 475hp Cummins-powered beauties fitted with 15-speed Eaton-Fuller gearboxes and various lifting rigs fitted in Quebec, Canada.
"They're rugged and strong"
An epic journey
Duncan Prince is the Western Star product manager in South Africa and he understands the unique requirements of a new CTS truck.
"Their trucks need to be really powerful, rugged and strong, but still come in with a favourable power to weight ratio." The new Western Stars have double chassis rails all made from single-piece high tensile steel with strengthening cross rails to handle off-highway operations. A Chalmers rubber suspension is used because it's lighter than steel units and provides high articulation making sure all wheels stay on the ground when a heavy load is being towed. Vehicle mass is kept low with fibreglass bonnets, galvanised steel cabs and composite sleeper cabs.
The five new brutes have come a long way, starting their journey in Portland, Oregon in the USA. The right-hand drive Western Stars were then towed behind five truck tractors, their noses pinned to the tractors' fifth wheels, across some five thousand kms to St Paul, Quebec, Canada where the wrecking rigs were fitted. The completed units then drove another 1000 kms to Charleston, South Carolina, where they boarded ship for South Africa.
Kindred spirits
Prince says the trucks were specced to match components available locally from both Western Star and Freightliner.
With DaimlerChrysler technicians trained to maintain the new rigs, Gustav and his team can be assured their rigs will keep rolling. For the new arrivals, the final preparation was to paint them a brilliant yellow and apply the eye- catching CTS decals and logo. Now it's time for work. Just what kind of work specifically remains to be seen. But, it's this 'not knowing' what to expect next from a wrecking job is what keeps the folk at CTS fired up. They don't complain. And, they chose Western Stars as their work horses because they don't complain either.
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| The
Big-five - a formidable line-up which puts South Africa
at the top of the rung in terms of international
recovery standards. Hats off to CTS |
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