Though the Tata Nano, the newly-introduced high-technology small car, was the major attraction among visitors at Auto Expo 2008 in New Delhi, it was the commercial vehicle segment which really stole the show with its futuristic range of products. All the commercial vehicle manufacturers – Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, MAN-Force Motors and AMW – displayed their products and solutions that drive the future of the transportation industry. Among the products prominently displayed were bulk pressure tankers, side tipping trailers, refrigerated trucks and curtain siders. The one thing that was common in most of these products was that, it was manufactured by the Chennai-based PL Haulwel Trailers.
PL Haulwel Trailers (PLHT) is a division of Automotive Coaches and Components Ltd. (ACCL), an associate company of Ashok Leyland. ACCL is the largest manufacturer of trailers in the organised sector in India. It has developed a number of applications on trucks and trailers for the Indian market.
PLHT has three manufacturing facilities, one each in Pondicherry, Chennai and Mumbai. It is planning to set up a new facility at Oragadam, Chennai, which will add substantially to the production capacity.
PLHT has recently tied up with three Australian companies for manufacturing products that would help in providing transport solutions. The first agreement is with Bulk Industrial Tankers for manufacturing bulk pressure tankers, the second with Southern Cross Vans for manufacturing refrigerated rigid bodies and trailers, and the third agreement is with J. Smith & Sons for manufacturing side tipping trailers.
All the three agreements are in the nature of technical collaborations, and there is no equity investment at this point. In fact, the bulk pressure tankers and the side tipping trailers manufactured by PLHT using the Australian technology were on display at Auto Expo.
Mr. S. Ramasubramanian, President and CEO of PLHT, says that the reason for choosing Australia as a major source for tie-ups is because it has one of the highly regulated markets for trailers, and the Australian Design Rules (ADR) for trailers is one of the best in the world. Also, Australian companies are much easier to work with. It makes economic sense to acquire technology from Australia rather than from a European company. Besides on-road and atmospheric conditions in Australia, especially in the out-back, are similar to that of India and the designs are more suited to the Indian operating conditions.
The Australian market for trailers is one of the highly regulated in the world and is comparable to European standards. Australia has very strict quality standards. In terms of absolute geographical area, the country is three times the size of India, but the population is just over 20 million. This means you have to provide very efficient transportation solutions for the Australian market.
Bulk pressure tankers
Bulk Industrial Tankers has been in operation since 1957 manufacturing bulk pressure tankers for the Australian market. Mr. Lionel Oxford, founder of the company, says that Bulk Industrial Tankers is the second biggest manufacturer of BPTs in Australia. “We have put on road over 1000 BPTs in the Australian market. We got in touch with PL Haulwell five years back to explore business opportunities in India, and the experience has been quite good”.
“The BPT market in India is in its infancy. Currently it is used for transporting cement and fly ash, but BPTs can be used for 1,000 different applications, including sugar and salt. It is a very clean way of transporting as there is no pilferage, with no loading or unloading involved. As the Indian market moves along, they will realise the efficiency and advantages of using BPTs as against trucks”, Mr. Lionel Oxford adds.
PLHT started manufacturing BPTs jointly with Bulk Industrial Tankers five years ago and in the first year the company sold just one unit. Today PLHT manufactures over 15 units per month for the Indian market. They are manufactured as per the Australian quality and safety standards, and the Australian company is now exploring the possibility of exporting BPTs back to Australia. “Currently we have orders for 10 BPTs to be exported to Australia. We have already exported nearly 12 units”, adds Mr. Lionel Oxford.
Bulk Industrial Tankers is also planning to introduce BPT - Millenium mixer. The unit can handle dry batch. It will mix the concrete to Indian or any other global standard. Considering the growth in infrastructure and construction industry, the market has been expanding for ready mix concrete. PLHT is looking at manufacturing this product both for the domestic market and for export back to Australia.
Refrigerated vehicles
The second collaboration is with Southern Cross Vans (SCV) for refrigerated trucks and trailers. SCV began operations in Adelaide in 1999. Since then the company has produced hundreds of vehicles consisting of rigid bodies, semi-trailers, dry freight, chiller and freezer configurations. The business provides transport solutions ranging from refrigerated (-28ºC) through to chiller and dry bulk freight units for a number of industry sectors, including local and inter-State distribution. SCV currently manufactures 120 ref trailer every year.
Mr. Alf De-Fazio, Sales & Marketing Manager, SCV, observes: “We primarily sell only in the Australian market. We have been discussing with PLHT for the last 12 months, and we are confident that there will be a good market in India for our products. We will manufacture the product exactly to Australian standards, and if we manage to do that then we will look at exporting it back to Australia”.
Wastage of food products is a serious issue in India. The percentage is so high that the government is now working on setting up food parks in various locations across the country. These food parks will be equipped with cold storage facilities. Also with the growth in organised retail and with the entry of multi national retail giants like Walmart, there will be a huge requirement for transportation of food products in an efficient manner. This has encouraged MNC logistic companies to enter the Indian market for providing logistic solutions and they will set standards for handling food products.
All these developments will enable growth in the refrigerated trucks and trailer market. Initially the market will open up for rigid bodies and once the cold storage and retail distribution networks are in place, the market will require refrigerated trailers as well. As the climatic conditions in India and Australia are very similar, the product and technology used by SCV can be easily adapted to the Indian conditions.
PLHT and SCV will manufacture refrigerated trailers using fibre glass technology. In India, the concept of refrigerated trucks is just catching up. It has started in a small way with small rigid bodies and the market will move on to. Side tipping trailers
The third agreement has been signed with J. Smith & Sons for manufacturing side tipping trailers. Smith & Sons is a 106-year-old company in Queensland, manufacturing a wide range of specialised trailers for the transport industry within Australia and overseas. Some of these products include low loaders, side-tipping trailers for sugar cane and raw sugar, roll-on/roll-off transfer trailers between road and rail for sugar cane wagons.
The company also manufactures a range of heavy-duty off-highway trailers for the coal and hard rock mining industries. These include side-tipping trailers and rear-tipping trailers up to 100 tonnes capacity per trailer. ‘SMITH’ also build a range of car carriers and tipping container skels.
Mr. Kerren J. Smith, Managing Director of Smith & Sons, said: “We finalised our agreement with PLHT in last quarter of 2007 and the first unit was built and put in place at the Auto Expo. We see PLHT well placed to take advantage of the infrastructure development in India. Indian market certainly has size and we have the right technology suitable for the market here. We are initially looking at the side tip trailers”.
Mr. Ram added that in India much of the organized growth will happen due to the entry of specialised logistics companies who will invest in quality equipments. These companies will look at better safety, faster turnaround and limited down time and once the industry starts adopting good operating practices it will automatically become industry standards. This is already evident.
Mr. Ram concluded saying: “I am happy to see that the transport industry is moving towards modernizing the fleets in terms of effective and cost economical transportation. This is the first paradigm shift that has happened in terms of the mindset. Having achieved this it is now the responsibility of companies like us to provide the product which the market requires. We have tied up for the right technology products with the right people and the right partners. We are confident that PLHT will continue to set standards in providing transportation solutions”.
