Customer Success Stories

United Bulk, a Gauteng-based transporter of food-grade products and dangerous goods, has used Freightliner as part of its extensive truck and tanker fleet since 2007. They recently increased this brand’s presence in their fleet by another 27.  

Owner, Patrick Pols comments that the longer wheel base is ideal for payload optimisation using tri-axle tanker semi-trailers. “When it came to adding new trucks to our fleet, we made an executive decision to go the Freightliner route due to the excellent after-sales support from the dealer network.”  

Commenting on the superior efficiency of the trucks, he says: “We are achieving an impressive 2.6km/litre on some of our Columbia rigs, well below the industry benchmark.” 

KEW Foundries is a well established engineering company with a long history of manufacturing steel works for the mining industry. In their day-to-day operation, this company needs a fleet of trucks that can do some heavy duty lifting and Freightliner has become their ‘abnormal load’ truck of choice.  

As proof that Freightliner has the capacity to carry more tonnage than most of its competitors, KEW delivers the largest cast sheave wheels in Africa to their mining customers using this truck brand. These sheaves have a root diameter of 6.5 metres! 

“The Freightliner Argosy is the ideal vehicle to accommodate our custom built 33-tonne trailer, allowing us to transport these monolithic sheave wheels into Africa without an escort,” says Jaime Goncalves, technical director at KEW Foundaries..

New generation Freightliner Argosy creates a grand entrance

The Freightliner division of Mercedes-Benz South Africa Commercial Vehicles introduced their new generation Argosy to customers today. The arrival of the new truck in South Africa has been eagerly anticipated by the road freight industry, and was launched amid great pomp and splendour amongst the dunes of Swakopmund in Namibia. Freightliner has been a leading force in long haul trucking in South Africa since 1996, and has consistently been a top seller in the over 400hp 6x4 truck tractor market in recent years. A sneak preview of the new generation model caused quite a stir at the Johannesburg International Motor Show in October last year.Freightliner, the successful American brand in the Mercedes Benz South Africa (MBSA) commercial vehicles stable, has had success in the segment due to its low un-laden mass, spacious sleeper cabs and proven heavy-duty drive train. Known for its apt motto, “Run Smart”, the Freightliner offers customers performance excellence by maximising the payload while also lowering overall cost per kilometre due to exceptional fuel economy, ease of maintenance and long term reliability.

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