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The Scania Truck Driver Competition is big news in Europe and we look forward to seeing SA drivers competing internationally. |
Scania opened shop in South Africa a mere ten years ago and is now the country's biggest exporter of long-haul trucks into Africa. This is reason enough in anyone's book to throw a party. And 'gooi' they did, the good folk from Scania, doing what they do best, building something from nothing. In this instance it was converting the desolate skidpan at Gerotek into a palace of pleasure with silver service dining hall, gazebos, water features and a programme of events that included the finals of the Scania Truck Driver Competition (South Africa 2005), an aerobatics and skydiving display and a pipe band. Adding a certain sense of gravity to the proceedings was the presence of Leif Östling, Scania president and CEO, reports
Paul Collings.
Focusing on the upliftment of truck drivers is something Scania is doing on a global basis. According to Scania SA managing director, Ulf Grevesmühl, truck accidents are just as prevalent in Europe as they are in South Africa. "The Scania Truck Driver Competition is an initiative to promote driver safety and highlight the need for more licenced drivers on our roads," he says. "Drivers entering the competition undergo academic and practical tests adjudicated by instructors from the Scania Driver Training Academy to determine overall truck driving proficiency."
The final five
The five drivers who made it to the finals all did so on merit, says Grevesmühl, when asked why no black drivers were in the top five: "There is no quota system in this competition. Everyone is judged against the standards of the competition, which is how it happens in Europe. You can't have a handicap system when it comes to safe driving."
Paulus Muller of Johannesburg won the competition. He and fellow-finalists were tasked to execute stringent reverse and parallel parking as well as tight cornering and straight-line drive and stop tests. Muller says he enjoyed the competition immensely and looks forward to driving his prize, a VW Polo TDi. Well done Paulus!
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Three Scania customers drove to the event in their 'factories'. |
The efforts of Gideon de Swart, Scania's marketing director, were proudly displayed and much appreciated. |
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Word from the CEO
"Ninety percent of accidents are due to human failure," says Östling , "Very seldom can you trace the cause as being vehicle failure. Scania was asked by The European Union in Brussels to help address the high incidence of trucks being involved in accidents, which is above 10%."
He adds that the latest technologies in new trucks make them extremely safe to drive but only if the driver knows how to use them. "For this reason, we have a driver training school in all countries where Scania operates. We also hold safety road seminars and the driver competition is just another way to encourage truck drivers to be safer road users."
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Reverse parking a tri-axle interlink ain't so easy. This driver needed a few attempts before getting it right. |
Winds of change
Östling says he believes South Africa needs to get in step with developed nations as far as new truck technology is concerned. "Just by driving around Johannesburg, one can see that emission control is a problem here," he adds. "New vehicle technologies for cars and trucks should be part of environmental protection legislation. Europe is about to enter Euro 4 and is already gearing up for Euro 5."
And the RSA is still Euro 1. Well, 'African Time' notwithstanding, we'll get there, Mr Östling .
The fact that Muller's prize is a Volkswagen led FleetWatch to probe the issue of VW's 30% shareholding in Scania, in light of the news that South Africa will be seeing VW HCVs on its roads as of 2006.
"Scania operates successfully in both Brazil and Argentina which are the main markets for VW heavy vehicles. This is because the VW trucks are designed for different applications to those of Scania, which is firstly a long-haul vehicle. Also, you can expect a life-span of two to three times longer on a Scania than that of a VW, so we don't see Scania competing with VW trucks at all."
Tech Sharing
Scania has technology and distribution agreements with other OEMs like Hino and Cummins, which perhaps have assisted the company in becoming Africa's long-haul truck of choice. Östling says that sharing expertise adds value to products: "These exchanges of technical know-how have allowed us to keep abreast of developments in Japan and Europe as well as emissions control in the USA. Scania's relationship with Hino has helped us penetrate the Japanese market and we are looking at ways to put Hino on the map in Europe and other regions where we see we can create a win-win situation."
Here's to another decade of African trucking. Happy birthday!
