The tough terrain of South Africa’s rugged Eastern Cape region is perfect territory for UD trucks, which are now being used in road resurfacing operations after years of neglect and torrential African rains.
Trucking boss Johan Duvenhage has built a successful niche business out of repairing or replacing the roads that crisscross South Africa’s vast Eastern Cape province.The company operates 63 trucks, which are all UD trucks and are assigned to various constructions sites. It employs 63 drivers. They start the day by washing the windscreens, wiping dust off the grilles and polishing the doors before hitting the road for PM Transport.
Retaining those drivers has been a challenge for the company. When a road is completed, the whole operation ends. The next job might be a long distance away, and some drivers don’t want to leave their homes. “You can’t be married to one town, you must go where the work is,” Duvenhage says.
One of the measures the company take to securing the drivers is setting up semi-permanent homes by renting some land and erecting temporary houses. When a contract ends after six to 36 months, the homes are dismantled and moved to the next location.
With this solution, Duvenhage manages to keep 40% of the drivers with him during these location changes, including one who has been on board for 28 years.
New contract, new homes
One of their recent projects is rebuilding the N10 road, which needs to be raised for better drainage, widened to make it safer and re-laid entirely because its surface was crumbling. The job keeps 25 of his UD tipper trucks busy transporting the gravel and ballast used to relay the road.
The 25 drivers and their trucks operate between a quarry and the N10 road. On the quarry, a UD truck with a crane fitted on its flatbed loads each tipper truck with crushed granite and they drive off in quick succession to the N10 road a few kilometers away. On the return trip they carry the mangled remains of the discarded road surface. Despite the intense workload and the high temperature in the day, there has not been a single break down.
“I explored other brands, but I wasn’t satisfied so every time I came back to UD,” says Duvenhage, owner and founder of PM Transport
“UD Quester, a ‘winning model’ in the fleet”
He’s planning to buy 25 to 30 more UD Questers in the next two years. “We’re so impressed by their fuel consumption and power that we plan to upgrade the fleet completely. I want to grow the business by 40-50%, but we’ll sell maybe 12 of the older trucks,” he says.
Those older UD trucks have been on the road for 15 years and clock an average of 80,000km a year. Yet their maintenance is still inexpensive. The biggest repair costs are punctures from continually driving over sharp stones in the quarries.
Alfred Rasmeni is the proud driver of one of the UD Questers the company bought last year. He sees this as a confirmation of his self-confidence at work.
Driver Alfred Rasmeni on the road with his UD Quester
“The new truck is more comfortable and powerful,” he says. “UD Questers are the best because they’re powerful and you can do anything and they don’t give you problems.” He also likes the Fuel Coaching System. “It tells you when to lift the throttle or change the gear.”
Despite working in harsh, dusty conditions, like other drivers in the company, Rasmeni keeps his truck spotlessly clean. “If I leave it dirty it says I don’t like the truck, I don’t care about the job. But I like my job and I like my UD Quester,” he says.