Capital Equipment News March 2019

TRANSPORT

Kamal Mitoo, CEO Time Link Group, is a proud owner of the last R500 V8 to be produced by Scania South Africa.

navigate wet roads without the vehicle losing any grip on the road. As an add-on to the truck’s safety features, a tyre pressure monitoring system has also been added to the truck. This will help you keep track of the conditions of your tyres by alerting you of any significant pressure drops your tyre may experience. Scania R Series comes built with real time tracking. The great thing about the tracking system is that it allows fleet owners to track the positioning of their truck. This positioning data will be accurate and updated frequently. “Coupled with that is our 24-hour manned control room which operates throughout the year, offering real-time vehicle tracking and live integrated cameras. This capability ensures that proper routes are followed, driving hours are adhered to, and that drivers sleep in allocated areas which safeguards our fleet against accidents relating to driver fatigue, hijacking and load tampering,” explains Mitoo. To the future The discontinuation of the current PGR V8 range is by no means the end of Time Link Cargo’s relationship with Scania. In fact, the relationship will be strengthened further as the next generation gets rolled out later this year. During the handover ceremony of the last PGR unit, Time Link Cargo signed an order for 100 V8 trucks to be delivered in the next four years. “The first 25 of that order will be delivered during this year. Of note is that the whole fleet will run on biodiesel,” explains Steenkamp. b In order to keep track of all the valuable goods on the trucks, the

Time Link Cargo has signed an order for a further 100 V8 new generation units to be delivered in the next four years.

largest owner of the V8 range, it also owns the only R730 model operating in South Africa. According to Marius Steenkamp, GM Cape Town at Scania, the R730 was purchased in 2016 and has since clocked in excess of 850 000 km, and counting. Time Link Cargo also strives to improve its service levels. The difference is it does this without compromising safety. Another reason of purchasing the V8 range is driver comfort, which safeguards the fleet against accidents relating to driver fatigue. The PGR V8 range offers a comfortable environment for the driver. With this range, the driver has the advantage of a bigger cab with more space because they sometimes have to be in it for long hours, if not days.

From a safety perspective, the Scania V8 trucks have been designed to ensure they are as safe as possible. The Scania R Series, for example, comes with an electronic brake system, which gives drivers fast braking response times. “The electronic brake system also helps overcome brake drag, this is normally what happens when the vehicle rolls at elevated temperatures as a result of poor quality brakes. In addition to the advanced braking system, the Scania R Series trucks come built with an electronic stability programme that greatly increases the driving safety of the drivers by monitoring the key stability parameters of the truck,” explains Malcom Olivier, regional sales manager, Cape Town at Scania South Africa. The safety feature will help drivers

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