26 minute read
HIGHWAY 1
JUNE SETS AN ALL-TIME TRUCK SALES RECORD
THE AUSTRALIAN truck market set an all-time high monthly record in June as the Covid 19 bounce back and instant tax write offs spurred the market to a massive 4741 sales, topping June 2020 by 120 units and the June figure for the record year of 2018 by more than 500 units. At the mid-point of 2021, the year-todate sales tally is 19,920 units, just 50 trucks behind June 2018’s tally of 19,970, with all of the major brands recording strong sales, led by Isuzu, which again topped the sales charts with 1085 sales, ironically not the brands best ever month. Isuzu captured 22.9 per cent of the market, with long-time rival Hino scoring its best every monthly sales tally with 761 units and 16.1 per cent share, as well as beating Isuzu in the medium duty sector. Fuso also had its best ever month in Australia with 568 sales and 12 per cent market share. Kenworth was fourth in the overall market with its 325 tally, while Mercedes-Benz claimed fifth with 198, which includes vans and light duty Sprinter based trucks. The Paccar brand also continued its dominance and strong result in June, moving it even further ahead of Volvo in the all-important fight for Heavy Duty supremacy. Kenworth’s tally for the month was more than double Volvo’s total of 146. The Swedish maker finishing only seven trucks ahead of Mercedes-Benz with 139 heavies. Scania and Isuzu battled out fourth place, with the Swede selling 122 trucks and finished just four units ahead of Isuzu on 118. Scania’s year to date figures for the first six months are the best half year figures it has ever recorded. Its 576 deliveries for the first half underlines the success the brand has had in recent times, because not long ago that would have been a respectable full year figure for Scania. Fuso with 88 heavy duty sales moved past Hino’s 79 to be sixth in the segment, while Mack on 66, DAF on 61 and UD on 59 were the next best, ahead of Iveco with 43, and Western Star with 42. Freightliner continues to fall short of expectations, with its 30 heavy duty sales belying the true potential of its Cascadia model. As mentioned, Hino topped Isuzu by seven trucks in Medium Duty, claiming 293 sales for the month, an occurrence that has only happened a handful of times in the history of the two brands in Australia. Fuso was third with 182 sales, while fourth placed Mercedes-Benz was so far behind it almost doesn’t register, selling just 15 units in the medium sector. Isuzu was supreme in light duty, selling almost double the number of trucks that Hino moved. Isuzu’s 681 sales and 42 per cent market share was 292 ahead of Hino, which gave it a 24 per cent share. Fuso had a great month in light duty, but the 298 trucks it sold pale when measured against Isuzu’s result. The three Japanese brands between them captured 84.4 per cent of the light duty market. Mercedes’ 44 light truck sales was the next best behind the dominant Japanese brands. In vans Mercedes-Benz dominated with 283 sales for the month, 22 units ahead of Renault, while VW was third with 161 sales and Ford in fourth with 119. With all of the major truck groups continuing to report strong demand with order books full through the remainder of 2021, some pundits believe that the 2018 record of just over 41000 units can be bettered, a result that few would have believed just a year ago.
NAVISTAR FINALLY A PART OF VW TRATON – INTERNATIONAL TAKE OVER NOW COMPLETE
TRATON HAS AT LAST finalised its take-over of Navistar, with the certificate of merger submitted on the 1st July, signalling that the merger of the US commercial vehicle manufacturer with the German based Traton is now complete. In a move that was started almost five years ago, by former CEO Andreas Rencshler, the Volkswagen subsidiary Traton, now holds all Navistar common shares and the Navistar name was delisted and deregistered with the SEC in July. Before joining VW, Renschler was the architect of Daimler’s moves to become a truly global truck maker, engineering the take-over of Freightliner, Western Star, Detroit Diesel and Ford’s truck division, which became the ill-fated Sterling brand. Renschler could not have imagined how long winded, drawn out and bruising the Navistar take-over would be, eventually claiming Renschler’s own job on the way. However, in reality Navistar was really the only option for Traton if it was to establish itself as a global truck maker on a par with Daimler. Traton, was spun off from Volkswagen, and was floated on the stock market in 2019, with the parent company retaining control, while selling 11.5 per cent of Traton to the market, netting around $AUD2.4 billion. The Traton purchase of 100 per cent of Navistar has cost it around $USD 3.7 billion ($AUD 4.9 billion). The company said that the addition of Navistar marks the beginning of a new era and also means it is entering the final stretch of its ‘Global Champion Strategy’. North America represents 35 per cent of the global truck profit pool, and the Navistar acquisition will grow the Traton Group by around 30 per cent in terms of sales revenue. Traton’s brand portfolio also includes Scania, MAN, Volkswagen Caminhoes e Onibus (South America), and RIO, and the Navistar acquisition adds the International brand to the Group. “Today is a sensational day for the Traton Group and for our new colleagues at Navistar joining the global Traton family,” said Traton CEO Matthias Gründler. “From this day on, we will be working side by side to bring sustainable transportation of the future one step closer,” he added. ”This is something the entire group is looking forward to,” he said, “The fact that this merger has been implemented, despite the obstacles presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, is testament to the impressive team work on both sides of the Atlantic and I would like to thank each and every one involved,” he added. “Over the past five years, Navistar and the Traton brands have worked very well together, and it is exciting to now become part of the global Traton Group,” said Navistar president and CEO Persio Lisboa. “Our common understanding of the future of transportation and our joint heritage creates a very solid basis for our common way forward. “The transport industry is changing rapidly, and together we will shape this change – for the sake of our customers, and the Navistar team is ready for the next step of collaboration,” he added. A strategic alliance has been in place between Traton and Navistar since 2017, with both companies benefiting from the value generated by enhanced purchasing power and the integration of new technologies. Traton said that as a new brand in the Group, Navistar will be in a better position to meet “the growing requirements of the market and to improve its customer offering even further”. This is especially the case with the transition to electric mobility and the establishment of autonomous driving. The company added that, combining Traton’s leading position in the European and South American markets with Navistar’s strong presence in North America, will lay the foundation for a premier company with a global reach and complimentary capabilities. Traton’s next target appears to be China and the massive opportunity that it presents. “Right now, we are analysing the best ways we can single-handedly leverage our brands’ potential there,” said Gründler. “Chinese fleet customers are increasingly looking toward higherend vehicles and they are expecting more and more in terms of efficiency and safety, so we want to meet this demand.” Traton said that its Scania brand is currently building a plant northwest of Shanghai, with series production scheduled to begin next year which will make Scania the first Western truck manufacturer to have a fully independent production plant in China. The Chinese facility will also house research and development activities, with the plan to create a new technology hub for digitalisation as part of its future strategy, Traton also wants to broaden its business base and open up new areas of activity, playing an even bigger role in shaping transportation “beyond iron and steel,” Gründler said. “We want to create new business models and partnerships that add value. We are expanding our perspective on logistics and digitalisation.”
ALL TIME JUNE SALES RECORD / TRATON CLINCHES NAVISTAR DEAL / MERCEDES BENZ’ FIRST ELECTRIC TRUCK / SCANIA WAREHOUSE EXPANSION
NEW SCANIA DEVELOPED COMMON BASE 13 LITRE SET TO BE TRATON’S LAST CONVENTIONAL POWER PLANT
TRATON BOSS MATTHIAS GRÜNDLER has said that the Group’s upcoming 13 litre Common Base Engine will be the last conventional power plant developed by the Group, as the company pivots to electrification. Speaking following the finalisation of the take-over of US truck maker Navistar, Gründler explained that the Common Base Engine currently being developed as part of a joint operation led by Scania, is set to be installed in Scania vehicles in Europe with a launch planned in November and deliveries starting early in 2022. “After that, we will start using the engine in both Latin and North America, while its other European brand, MAN will start to use it from 2024. Scania announced in a press release in Europe recently that the new engine would be part of its major launch planned for November, which the company described as the biggest introduction since 2016, with the arrival of a substantially updated Euro 6 truck range Gründler said that the CBE will enable Traton to “build bridges to the future”, which he said will clearly be shaped by battery-electric commercial vehicles. “It is highly efficient, which makes it an eco-friendly solution while electric trucks still have a higher total cost of ownership than diesel ones for the moment,” said Gründler. Gründler said that Traton’s modular system for electrified drives has been on the road since 2020, initially in city buses. Scania began series production of its first electric truck in September last year, with the truck featuring a range of 250 kilometres. While the Swedish brand also offers a plug-in hybrid truck which it says can travel 60 kilometres on electricity alone. “We want to become an electric leader,” Gründler said. The German based group is putting its money where its mouth is by massively increasing the spend on R&D relating to electric mobility with plans to spend nearly $USD 1.9 billion ($AUD2.53billion) on electric drivetrain R&D by 2025. “To make that happen, we are systematically shifting our development spend away from conventional drives and placing a clear emphasis on electric,” he said. “For a long time, it looked like the race for alternative drives was anyone’s game, but now, a clear favourite is emerging and that is battery technology,” Gründler added. He explained that the kilowatt-hour price has been dropping much faster than predicted, meaning the total cost of ownership of electric trucks will quickly fall below that of their diesel counterparts. “Electric vehicles are also cheaper to maintain and repair and this means they may already be more appealing than diesel trucks in terms of their total cost of ownership in 2025. “By 2030, a double-digit percentage saving is feasible, which will be a crucial advantage in an industry like transportation, where margins are low.” Gründler said that ultimately, it is up to customers, but that batteries will soon have the edge in virtually all applications. “Even compared to fuel cells for the foreseeable future, battery-powered vehicles will be cheaper – especially in terms of their energy costs, plus, three-quarters of the output energy is used to power the drive, for Hydrogen-powered vehicles, it is only a quarter,” Gründler said. This is a different strategy than that recently announced by its main opponent in the market, Daimler, which is developing both batteryelectric and hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles and Gründler believes that in the long run, battery-electric alone is not a feasible way to meet zero-emissions goals. The biggest challenge, Grundler said, is charging infrastructure. “The biggest task is to establish a powerful, cross-border rapidcharging infrastructure for long-haul transportation by 2025. This requires an enormous collective effort on the part of industry and policymakers, and we need to make a start on this here and now,” he added. Gründler said the electrification efforts is one-way Traton is preparing to face the industry’s future challenges. “You know the environment we are operating in, the overarching climate targets have been defined for the EU and for Germany and here in Europe, we have to reduce our CO2 emissions by 55 per cent by 2030,” he said. “A target of 65 per cent reduction is even likely for Germany and digitalisation is continuing to gain momentum with the pandemic putting wind in its sails, while automated driving is becoming a reality.” “Our main goal is to seek to balance the needs of human beings, the environment, and the economy in everything we do, Gründler said. “This is something we call the People, Planet, and Performance triad. We are devising a new strategic course to do just that,” he concluded.
ALL TIME JUNE SALES RECORD / TRATON CLINCHES NAVISTAR DEAL / MERCEDES BENZ’ FIRST ELECTRIC TRUCK / SCANIA WAREHOUSE EXPANSION
MERCEDES-BENZ UNVEILS ITS FIRST EVER PRODUCTION FULL ELECTRIC TRUCK
MERCEDES-BENZ Trucks has given its battery-electric eActros its world premiere, unveiling the first series production electric truck to wear the famous three-pointed star, which the company says will have a range of up to 400km with a battery capacity of 420kWh. Mercedes-Benz says the eActros rings in a new era and highlights its ‘clear desire to achieve CO2-neutral road-based goods transport’. The standard model eActros is scheduled to roll off the production line at its Wörth am Rhein plant in Germany from the third quarter this year. Mercedes-Benz says the findings from its “eActros innovation fleet”, which commenced in 2018, as well as its close exchanges with customers, have been incorporated into the development of the seriesproduction model. The standard specification eActros will also feature the many aspects of technology debuted in its latest diesel-powered trucks including MirrorCam and the Multimedia Interactive Cockpit. The company announced that the battery of the eActros seriesproduction model is equipped with either three or four battery packs, each with an energy capacity of around 105 kWh. The maximum battery capacity of 420 kWh enables ranges of up to 400 kilometres to be achieved. There are some riders on these figures, with Benz saying the range was determined internally, in optimum conditions, with four battery packs, after preconditioning, in partly loaded distribution traffic, without a trailer and at an ambient outside temperature of 20 deg. Mercedes-Benz said that the technological centrepiece of the electric truck is its drive unit, which is a rigid electric axle with two integrated electric motors and a two-speed transmission. It adds that both of the liquidcooled motors generate a continuous output of 330 kW with peak power of 400 kW. In addition, Benz says if the eActros is driven with a degree of forward vision and planning then braking regeneration enables it to recover electrical energy, which is then fed back into the batteries and is made available for use by the drive system. The eActros’ two integrated electric motors offer high levels of efficiency and a constant delivery of power with high starting torque, according to Benz. Like all electric trucks, the provision of immediate torque by the electric motors, which in this case are coupled to a two-speed transmission, ensures powerful acceleration, impressive driving comfort and driving dynamics which enable more relaxed, low-stress operation than a conventional diesel-powered truck Mercedes-Benz said. Another factor the company was trumpeting is the lower centre of gravity which is clearly an advantage when it comes to cornering. Lower noise levels also deliver advantages with drivers experiencing a significant 10dB reduction in noise inside the cab in full-load operations, which roughly corresponds to a halving of perceptible noise volume. Thanks to those low noise level, Benz points out that things such as late and overnight deliveries become more possible without disturbing nearby residents. The eActros also delivers noticeably fewer vibrations and is apparently much smoother in driving modes. Benz claims the truck can be charged with up to 160 kW when connected to a regular 400A DC charging station, with the three battery packs requiring a little more than one hour to charge from 20 to 80 per cent, again so long as the ambient outside temperature is around 20deg C and the batteries are in good condition. The company also said that in order to assist transport companies along their way to eMobility, the eActros will be marketed with a system that also provides advice and services, as well as a range of digital solutions to increase utilisation of the vehicle and optimise the total cost of ownership.
As an example, Benz cited the fact that it is possible to establish a highly realistic and meaningful usage profile for electric trucks using a customer’s existing route plan. Benz is calling it eConsulting and says that it doesn’t just include electrification of the depot, but also covers questions concerning planning, applying for and implementing everything to do with the charging infrastructure and connection to the electricity network. As a result Mercedes-Benz Trucks says it has also established a strategic partnership with Siemens Smart Infrastructure, ENGIE and EVBox Group, and if required, it can additionally provide help with identifying available public grants for infrastructure and vehicles. The truck’s Multimedia Cockpit Interactive allows the driver to constantly be up to date with the charge level of the batteries and the remaining range, as well as the current and average energy consumption. Fleet managers will also be able to use the Fleetboard portal’s digital solutions to efficiently control the fleet. This will also include things such as an individually developed Charge Management System for creating charging profiles, and a logbook containing detailed information on driving times, downtimes and charging breaks. Benz says there is also a mapping tool which shows the vehicle’s current location in real-time, and whether it is in motion, parked or being charged, as well as how high the battery charge is. When it is launched in Europe, the eActros will be offered with Mercedes-Benz Complete, which the company says is a service contract including what it calls an ‘All-round Carefree Package’. Mercedes-Benz Uptime will deliver fully automatic telediagnosis, which will continuously monitor the status of several vehicle systems in the truck in real time. By bundling repair and maintenance requirements, which Benz says will reduce the number of unplanned workshop visits. Naturally for a truck from Daimler the eActros boasts high levels of safety. Benz cited the example of the special crash elements built into the truck, including the integrated aluminium profile designed to protect the batteries in the event of a side-on crash, along with sensors which can detect a crash scenario. If a crash happens the High Voltage battery would be automatically isolated from the rest of the vehicle. In addition the driver has the option of actuating the HV shutoff at any time in the cab. The eActros also comes standard with an external Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) to warn other road users like pedestrians and cyclists while Sideguard Assist offers additional safety when turning off to the nearside. There is also the fifth-generation of Daimler’s Active Brake Assist emergency braking system with pedestrian recognition. It appears that Daimler is full charge with its aim for CO2-neutral transport using battery-electric and hydrogenbased fuel-cell technologies. The company says the logistics sector is facing a massive set of challenges, with environmental regulations becoming even more demanding on the one hand, while on the other the massive increase in global freight volume needs to be transported as sustainably and efficiently as possible. Mercedes-Benz Trucks says it is working hard to achieve these goals and identifies with the Paris Agreement’s aim of decarbonising the sector and wants to completely switch its European product portfolio to electrically powered trucks by 2039. The eActros is the first fully-electric series-production truck from Benz and the company says it marks an important step in the direction of CO2-neutral goods transport. The company has more in the pipeline with the low-floor Mercedes-Benz eEconic specialist refuse truck expected in 2022, the battery-electric eActros LongHaul due to be launched in 2024 and the GenH2 Truck with hydrogen-based fuel cell in the second half of this decade. T&B News understands that the eActros and the other zero emission models are on Daimler Truck Australia’s wish list, but at this stage there are no firm dates set down yet.
NEW BOSS AT ISUZU AUSTRALIA
ISUZU AUSTRALIA has a new managing director and CEO, following the appointment of Takeo Shindo to the position, replacing Ms. Hiroko Yaguchi, who held the position for three years and nine months. Shindo san’s appointment comes following a tenure spanning 35 years at Isuzu Motors Japan (IML), and will bring a wealth of experience gathered from all corners of the global Isuzu family. Having previously worked across corporate, operational, sales and retail roles in Japan, North America and Africa as well as several growing South East Asian markets, Shindo san joins IAL during a time of consolidated domestic growth and rapid industry change. IAL director and COO, Andrew Harbison, extended a warm welcome to Shindo san. “We’re extremely pleased to welcome Shindo san to Australia and the role of managing director and CEO at IAL. We’re looking forward to continuing to build on the great work between our Australian and Japanese operations,” he said. “IAL has big plans for the future, especially in relation to our ability to adapt to rapidly evolving domestic and international industry change. “Shindo san’s formidable track record at our parent company in Japan, especially in the product development and planning space, and his tenure across the breadth of Isuzu’s global markets, fills us with great confidence.” Mr Harbison also took the opportunity to extend a sincere thanks to outgoing managing director and CEO, Hiroko Yaguchi. “Despite the great news, it is a bittersweet moment for our business, as we bid farewell to Yaguchi san, who is returning to Japan after an extended four-year assignment here in Australia. “Her strength, resilience and business intelligence during that time and indeed throughout an unprecedented 2020, won’t be forgotten. We wish her every success in her future endeavours within Isuzu Motors Japan,” Andrew Harbison concluded.
ALL TIME JUNE SALES RECORD / TRATON CLINCHES NAVISTAR DEAL / MERCEDES BENZ’ FIRST ELECTRIC TRUCK / SCANIA WAREHOUSE EXPANSION
THIS 700 IS HINO’S BRAND NEW HEAVY
HINO HAS LAUNCHED its new heavy duty 700 range, declaring it is the safest truck it has ever launched in Australia as well as boasting a wider range of axle configurations, transmissions and engine power ratings and Euro 6 compliance across the range. Although Hino would not be drawn on firm aspirations for the new truck during Transport & Trucking’s briefing, they believe the wider variety of power ratings and axle ratings will give the company more firepower in the heavy sector against the likes of both Isuzu and Fuso. Hino has been hamstrung by the lack of a competitive 8x4 offering but the new 700 will see that fixed and put its new big truck on a more equal footing with the market leader and also with other brands mixing in the heavy vocational sector. In 2020, the 8x4 market ran to about 1,450 trucks and Hino says while it would like to capture a larger slice of that pie, but as a new entrant to the under 400HP 8x4 market, it has set modest objectives for its new model. Interestingly while the new 8x4 models will be available here in the third quarter it won’t be available with the Hino SmartSafe safety suite until mid-2022 as a result of validating the VSC and PCS systems Hino says. As with Hino’s new 300 range and the 500 models, safety tech play a key part in the Hino product strategy which has helped Hino bridge the gap on Isuzu in medium duty and it is again hitching its hopes with the 700. The new 700 is Euro 6 compliant, which is being demanded by an increasing number of fleets keen to show corporate responsibility. Petrovski told us that Euro 6 continues to be an important consideration for its customers and says that it is safe to say that it’s one of the top three considerations for its larger fleet customers. The new 700’s styling is not dissimilar to the truck it replaces, with detail changes around the grille and other cosmetic touches discerning it from the previous 700. The new frontal styling includes an enlarged chrome grille and Hino badge, with LED headlamps and Daytime Running Lamps set in the bumper, and polished alloy wheels are standard. The interior has received a major facelift with the same ochre brown dash tones seen in the 500 range now in the new big truck and the eyecatching new interior offers increased comfort and practicality for drivers according to Daniel Petrovski. Driver Monitor (DM) has been added to its Smart Safe that also includes Pre-Collision System with Autonomous Emergency Braking, Pedestrian Detection), Lane Departure Warning System, Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), Reverse Camera. As part of the wider spread of models Hino has added the Euro 6 A09C 9-litre straight six turbo diesel alongside the E13C 13 litre engine. The 13-litre and 9-litre models have different grille treatments with the larger engine models having four chrome bars on the grille and the 9-litres featuring three chrome bars and a lower cab height. “The all-new 700 Series is built as a vehicle for today and for the future – Australian customers clearly prefer the convenience of two-pedal transmissions, which is why the expanded Hino 700 Series model range is now available with either a true automatic or an automated manual transmission (AMT), which are matched to their respective engine power ratings,” said Petrovski. The nine litre models begin with the FH 1832 4x2, FR 2632 6x2 and FS 2632 6x4 models, which feature the A09C-VP engine that delivers 320hp, and is mated to the six-speed Allison 3200 true automatic transmission. Meanwhile, the 700 Series FY 3036 8x4 model features a more powerful version of the nine-litre engine – the A09C-VN - with 360hp, and is matched to the larger and stronger six-speed Allison 4440 true automatic transmission. The SH 1845 4x2 models will feature the E13C-BL engine with the same peak power of 450hp. The new 700 Series SS 2848 6x4 prime mover, FS 2848 6x4 rigid and FY 3248 8x4 rigid models utilise the E13C-BK engine with peak horsepower of 480hp (353kW). The E13C engines are matched to the latest generation of the ZF 16-speed Automated Manual Transmission (AMT), the TraXon TX 2441TO. Standard auxiliary braking on all 700 Series is via the ‘Jake Brake’ and in fact it is the only Japanese heavyduty truck available with a Jake Brake. All 13-litre models have the ZF intarder integrated into the 16-speed ZF AMT.
SCANIA PUTS ITS MONEY WHERE ITS PARTS ARE – MAJOR WAREHOUSE EXPANSION ON THE BACK OF BUSINESS GROWTH
SCANIA HAS ANNOUNCED it is investing in two new parts warehouses to meet the growing demand for its trucks and the increase in the ‘truck park’ of Scanias across the country. Scania’s business is growing at record levels across all divisions, as witnessed by the latest TIC truck sales figures that saw the company record one of its best sales months ever and a year-to-date sales volume that would have been a respectable full year tally just a few years ago. The company recently started construction of a new companyowned sales and service branch in an area that has become Sydney’s new ‘truck central’ at Eastern Creek, and has announced it is now acquiring two new warehouses to provide what it says is a higher level of ‘first pick of spare and replacement parts’. The company said the move is underpinning its promise of “exceptional uptime for customers”. Scania says the largest of the new investments will be located close to its head office at Campbellfield in Melbourne’s northern suburbs and will secure additional capacity for spare parts storage and dispatch at a new 9000 m2 warehouse, which is set to come on stream in September this year. The new parts warehouse is substantially larger than its existing national parts warehouse which has been in operation since 1992. Scania say its second investment will be in a new stand alone warehouse facility in Perth, which will have 2000 m2 of parts storage to support Scania’s WA operations and will come on stream this month (July 2021). The WA facility is required to service the growing Scania on and off-road population, particularly among demanding applications such as Scania’s many mining customers, for whom uptime, and therefore parts access, is critical the company said. “We have taken this decision to expand our national and regional warehousing capacity as a result of the accelerated growth of sales of trucks, buses and engines over the past decade, and therefore the expected demands for replacement and service parts for these vehicles and engines over the next decade and beyond,” said Scania After Sales Director, Patrik Tharna. “We have doubled our truck sales and market share since 2010, and our bus market penetration remains extremely high, underscoring the need to supply many customers around the country with a reliable flow of parts, as well as the additional service capacity we are adding with our new companyowned branch at Eastern Creek. “We live in an increasingly uncertain world and we have all seen over the past year the impact on long-distance supply chains during a pandemic. With this added capacity for partsholdings we anticipate being able to provide more parts, more quickly to more customers from these new warehouses,” he said. Scania said that when Covid 19 hit last year, it increased parts stocks at its National Warehouse in Victoria and at branch warehouses around the country, to “build resilience in case of major supply chain disruptions”. The company also secured the ability to deliver directly to workshops and customers from other warehouses in Europe and Asia. However, production capacity and container availability had, and still has, impacted on spare parts availability it added. “The new National Warehouse in Melbourne will allow even more stock to be located in Australia to counter the negative effect Corona has had on global supply chains and make us more independent,” said Ben Nicholson, Scania’s national parts manager for Australia and the After Sales team member responsible for the warehouse capacity expansion project. “With the addition of the new Regional Warehouse in Perth, we will also build some additional resilience into our supply chain within Australia,” Nicholson said. “When the new warehouses are online, we will improve spare parts availability reducing lead times, as well as being better at pre-picking kits to provide superior support to our own and our authorised independent dealer workshop operations,” he said. “The expansion of our warehousing infrastructure will also require us to further grow the number of Scania employees working in Australia, and we are now well over the 500 mark,” Patrik Tharna said. “And in line with Scania’s global and local drive towards a sustainable transport solution, the new National Warehouse comes equipped with solar panels on the roof. We will take all opportunities to continue to reduce our carbon footprint,” he added.
Ben Nicholson (left), Scania’s national parts logistics and inventory manager and Patrik Tharna, after sales director for Scania Australia at the new National Parts Warehouse in Campbellfield
