Ngululu Carriers (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiary of Ngululu Holdings, came into being when they bought a controlling share in well established transport company, Lukas Potgieter Vervoer.
DAF trucks add a shine to chrome transportation
Today, Ngululu Bulk Carriers (NBC) is becoming a significant player in the transportation of platinum concentrate and holds a leading market share in the transportation of nickel concentrate. Chrome, however still remains the number one revenue earner for the company. Based in Steelpoort, Limpopo, the company currently has contracts to transport more than five million tons per annum of raw materials to various strategic areas of South Africa. There are plans in the pipeline to increase this footprint to the rest of the SADC region.
Ngululu Bulk Carriers currently runs a fleet of 440 vehicles of which 134 are DAF XF105 truck tractors which operate to the ports of Durban, Richards Bay and Maputo. The DAF trucks were purchased at the beginning of 2014 and to date have each covered 130 000 km on average.
In an exclusive interview with Flip Myburg, Executive Director - Fleet and Technical he revealed their reasons for opting for DAF trucks. “Some years ago we ran a fleet of DAF CF 85 truck tractors, with excellent results but uncertainties with the distributor at the time force us to replace the DAF’s with other brands in order to keep our business on track. I was later approached by the management of Babcock who took over the distributorship of DAF in Southern Africa in 2010, with some new proposals and assurances of a more defined and structured backup for the product. To be fair to ourselves and the industry, we tested various trucks from the leading manufacturers. Based on the criteria we set; fuel consumption, payload, FML, finance availability, driver training and service infrastructure around the country, we then introduced a demonstration DAF into the fleet for further evaluation, the result is now history.”
“We found that DAF specifications fitted our requirements and over and above that they were able to offer the complete package including finance from Babcock Financial Services so everything was in-house,” added Myburg.
Babcock Financial Services is an independent legal entity fully owned by Babcock Africa (Pty) Ltd and is registered to trade as a service provider for capital equipment. Babcock Financial Services obtains its finance from Babcock Africa as well as the local market.
Ngululu Bulk Carriers had applied various service options to their fleet in the past but with the new DAF fleet have opted for a full maintenance plan as part of the package. “I am very satisfied with the package we have received from DAF so far. The trucks are still new and have not required too much attention on the road but the minor breakdowns have been attended to with minimum downtime. This reflects favourably on the company’s positive management style and their superior response to queries which I am pleased to say is not restricted to the contract we have with them."
With the revamped structure of the company and the rapid increase in the fleet in recent years, Myburg talks of a consolidation period with no real growth plans in the short term. With margins now reflected in single figures, which has become an industry norm, the company is looking at some diversification into other transport markets so as to not rely fully on the mining industry. This would entail diverting some of their existing fleet for these applications.
“With the type of service we are receiving from DAF and the quality of the vehicles themselves it may be in our interests to consider stretching the lifetime of the fleet and look at a 720,000 km or four year replacement cycle,” concluded Myburg.
As a 100% BEE owned company, Ngululu Bulk Carriers has entered into the spirit of the strategic objective formulated for the progressive economic development of the country and having ‘partnered’ with DAF for their transport requirements, has brought a leading European manufacturer into this strategic alliance.
