Johor-based transportation company Chemtrax Sdn Bhd (Chemtrax), has taken delivery of five units of Volvo trucks from Volvo Trucks Malaysia. These are four units of the Volvo FM370 4x2 model and one unit of the Volvo FM440 6x2 model prime mover trucks. The purpose of Chemtrax's acquisition is for the company’s expansion and also for replacing several old trucks in its fleet. The new trucks will be utilised for transporting caustic soda chemical compounds and also butadiene gas.
Jaffar Abu Bakar, Group Managing Director of Chemtrax Sdn Bhd and Mitch Peden, Managing Director, Volvo Trucks Malaysia doing the ribbon cutting, and presentation of truck scale model and mock key.
A small vehicle handover ceremony was held recently and was attended by the management teams of both companies. The handing over was held over at Chemtrax’s depot in Pasir Gudang, Johor and with the new additions, Chemtrax now owns a total of 55 units of Volvo trucks. This figure makes up about 90% of the company’s total fleet of trucks.
Mitch Peden, Managing Director, Volvo Trucks Malaysia said, “We are very pleased to be able to continuously provide the support our customer, Chemtrax, requires from us with the delivery of the new trucks despite the current challenging market situation.”
According to Mr Peden, the Volvo FM series is the ideal and flexible vehicle for long and short haul distribution, and is adaptable to suit almost any transport assignment. Volvo Trucks are confident that this truck’s first-class driving features will provide Chemtrax with great transport efficiency, reliability and safety for the sustainability of its business. The key issue in any transporter is to have more uptime than downtime of their vehicles which leads to better profit margins.
Chemtrax has been around since 1998 and is one of the leading transportation companies in Malaysia that specialises in the moving of hazardous chemical and gas products such as acids, alkalies, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), water-based chemicals and other flammable and toxic gases.The company operates within Malaysia and Singapore and they use various types of road tanker trailers such as stainless-steel tanker, special-lined tanker and high-pressured gas tanker to meet the diverse and strict requirements for each hazardous material it transports. These trailers are usually hooked up to a Volvo Truck when it comes to Chemtrax's case.
Jaffar Abu Bakar, Group Managing Director of Chemtrax Sdn Bhd (photo above) said at the handover ceremony that the company has more than 20 years of experience in handling hazardous materials and have been providing transportation services to companies like Petronas, CCM Chemicals, Kaneka, Solar Gaz and other global companies like IVICT, INEOS and Synthomer. He also stated that these companies all subscribe to very stringent global standards of safety (especially with hazardous cargo) which the company is highly committed to.
He added that the company’s transport routes consist of both long and short haul deliveries within all over Peninsula Malaysia, as well as to Singapore with around 15 trips daily into the island.
“The hazardous nature of the materials we transport necessitates us to constantly ensure that safety remains at the forefront of our business. As we are steadfast in our commitment to fully comply to international standards of safety and quality, we do require robust trucks to help us maintain our standards and ensure on-time deliveries to our clients." said Jaffar.
“We have been steadily adding Volvo trucks in our fleet for over a decade now. Volvo Trucks has always been the preferred choice of our drivers, thanks to its comfortability especially for long haul assignments which helps to reduce driver fatigue. We are very satisfied with the truck’s fuel efficiency for both short and long haul trips. The on-dash alerts provide early warning for us to detect if there is any issue with the truck, and that facilitates effective repair and maintenance,” added Jaffar.
On why the company chose Volvo Trucks, he said that that the new Volvo FM trucks will be able to provide high utilisation due to the truck’s advanced features that boost performance, safety and fuel-efficiency. The truck’s great maneuverability and Volvo’s driver training sessions have also been able to help Chemrax attract and retain good drivers, providing stability to its business.
“Maintaining the uptime and productivity of our trucks is extremely crucial in our line of business. Therefore, having a consistently reliable aftermarket support from our truck partner is also very important to us, to our drivers and to our customers. With Volvo’s level of support and parts availability, we have been able to significantly minimise truck downtime and business risk. Our aim is to continue to be the preferred choice of transporter amongst chemical and gas manufacturers in Malaysia, thus the trucks we buy play a crucial role,” explained Jaffar.
Also adding to the subject matter at hand, Mr Peden also said, “Volvo Trucks is extremely proud of our working relationship with Chemtrax who is also committed to safety, sustainability and efficiency. With the increasing need for transportation services to move goods for societies and industries, this also means that transport has to become even more sustainable, more reliable and safer. We are grateful that Chemtrax has entrusted Volvo Trucks with the tasks of transporting hazardous materials and we are committed to making sure our trucks deliver on our brand promise.”
On a side note, it is good to hear that truck handover ceremonies are starting again coming out of the Malaysian Movement Control Order lockdown periods. It shows that businesses are starting up again and there are companies who are taking advantage of the situation where there is a slowdown to upgrade their fleets. Sometimes, the best time to upgrade a fleet is when there is a lull and it allows time for transporters like Chemtrax to ensure that their fleet is ready for the next upswing.
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