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Two giants join
forces
Bridgestone Maxiprest has announced the merger of its two
tyre divisions, Maxiprest Tyres and Quality Tyres, in the joint creation of
‘Max T Solutions’.
‘We can now truly claim to be South Africa’s total tyre
management solutions company,” says Kenji Shoda, CEO Bridgestone Maxiprest.
Max T Solutions will offer the same extensive range of products and services
that that put Maxiprest and Quality Tyres among the leading tyre suppliers in
southern Africa,
These include Maxiprest’s compressed re-tread system (the
company recaps more than a quarter million truck, bus and OTR tyres annually)
and the Tyre Maximizer tyre managment program that monitors every conceivable
aspect of tyre utilisation Other services included 24/7 breakdown assistance,
mobile wheel-alignment and tyre surveys. As for Quality Tyres, this division
has earned an enviable reputation for its expertise in the supply and
management of mining, earthmoving and other off-the-road tyre sectors.
Max T Solutions has committed itself to a new business mantra
that promises it ‘will deliver the efficiency you deserve.’
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Nissan Diesel Motor Co, Ltd has changed its company name
to UD Trucks Corporation effective February 1st, 2010. Simultaneous with this
company name change, the current Nissan Diesel brand name has also been
changed to a new brand name called UD Trucks. Moreover, the UD mark, which has
differed in various markets around the world, will be unified internationally
under a new logo mark. Due to lack of space in this edition, FleetWatch
will report on the rationale and implications of all this in our next issue.
In the meantime, say hello to the new UD Trucks logo which we will be seeing
in South Africa and around the world.
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Hard Labour
The managing
director and the
accountant of a Zambian logistics company has been sentenced to
four years imprisonment with hard labour after being found
guilty of two counts of theft by an agent and forgery. The pair
were arrested by the Anti- Money Laundering Investigations Unit
of the Drug Enforcement Commission for stealing three truck
loads of Copper Cathodes which they were transporting to South
Africa on behalf of their clients Konkola Copper Mines.
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Blind Spot eliminator
Heavy truck
drivers battle to see smaller vehicles next to the passenger side of their
vehicles due to a blind spot. |
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 more... |
Tyre
Expo soldout
Over 140 exhibitors
have been signed up for the 3rd international tyre
exhibition, Tyrexpo Africa, scheduled to take place at the Sandton Convention
Centre, Johannesburg 4, 5 and 6 March 2010.
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Famous Truck Drivers
If you think
being a truck driver
won’t get you far in life, think again. Unbeknown to most
people is that some very famous people were, at some stage
in their lives, truck drivers.
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Bridging the gap
The Chartered
Institute of Transport and Logistics: South Africa (Ciltsa) and the Department
of Business Management in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences of
the University of Pretoria (UP) has signed what has been described as “an
historic memorandum of understanding (MoU)” aimed at fostering closer
co-operation between the two institutes for the benefit of the transport
sector. |
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more... |
April 1st
unlikely for Aarto roll-out
While it has
been announced in some media that the Administrative Adjudication of Road
Traffic Offences system (Aarto) will be rolled out nationally on April 1st
this year, transport legislation consultant and FleetWatch
correspondent on legislation, Alta Swanepoel, says that the Minister of
Transport may have been incorrectly quoted. |
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more... |
As a new offering to our readers,
FleetWatch
brings you some interesting
transport news titbits sourced both locally and from around the
world.
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Aussie
government punts rail haulage
Does this sound familiar? An Australian
government backed campaign to move freight from road to rail has
been questioned by the road transport sector who say rail is not
equipped to handle such a move.
Road transport associations caution that
moving freight from road to rail would have a significant
negative effect on the economy as rail has been proved to be far
less productive and efficient than road transport.
The Australian Productivity Commission estimated
in 2006 that no more than 15 per cent of total road freight is
''contestable'' by rail. Trucks are quicker, cheaper, more
flexible in their movements - and go places rail does not.
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Mozambique ups logistics ante |
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Animal
sacrifice
Residents
of a village living alongside the
Moloto Road which runs from Pretoria into Mpumalanga are
to sacrifice a number of animals on the road in an effort
to appease their ancestors and reduce the accident rate on
the road which has witnessed several horrific vehicle
accidents in the past five months.
In October 2009, a minibus
taxi veered out of control killing 12 passengers, while in
November, 15 people were killed in separate incidents
involving larger buses.
The affected stretch of road runs through
the ancestral lands of the Moletji community, whose leader
Kgosi (chief) Kgabo Moloto III announced plans for a night
vigil on the road.
After the vigil, to be attended by
community members and transport industry representatives,
beasts will be slaughtered in a ritual performed to
appease the ancestors. |
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Drivers
needed galore
Anybody
who thinks
South Africa is facing a major problem due to a lack of
qualified truck drivers can be thankful they are not
living in India as the following media report indicates:
“The Indian
logistics sector badly needs skilled workers. For example,
a recent study done in collaboration with the
Confederation of Indian Industry says India's road freight
segment would need nearly 51 million truck drivers by
2015.”
The study
paper - 'Skills Gaps in the Indian Logistics Sector' -
estimates that currently India has only some 3 million
truck drivers for medium and heavy commercial vehicles.
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Diesel power replaces the trusty pedal
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more... |
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