Shengtian Group is well known in Nannings real estate market. Even amid the market slump, Shengtian has up to 11 projects in parallel.

To meet the concrete demands of numerous projects, Shengtian has four mixing plants and has established a logistics company transporting ingredients for the plants. Nanning Shengmao Logistics Co., Ltd. (Shengmao Logistics) is exactly the transport company under Shengtian Group.

Chen Yong, general manager of Shengmao Logistics, devoted himself to the transport industry from 2003. Having worked at a concrete mixing plant before joining the transport industry, he has a unique view of concrete ingredient transport and vehicle purchase. In the interview, he summarized the two basic standards of Shengmao Logistics for vehicle purchase.

Standard 1: light and powerful

Shengmao Logistics had only few vehicles before 2011, most of which were affiliated ones differing in type and stability, according to sources. Since September 2011, the four concrete mixing plants under Shengtian Group have been built up, enormously raising requirements to ingredient transport vehicles. As the affiliated vehicles have failed to meet requirements, Shengmao Logistics has begun to purchase vehicles, extending the fleet from several vehicles to tens of vehicles.

When I visited Shengmao Logistics recently, 15 newly purchased Dongfeng T-Lift dump trucks powered by YC6L engines were delivering. Combined with the newly delivered 15 vehicles, Shengmao Logistics has owned 63 various heavy-duty vehicles, all of which are powered by Yuchai heavy-duty engines.

Yuchai-powered Dongfeng T-Lift dump trucks in use

These vehicles, in lightweight design, carry 290hp YC6L engines and Dongfeng 153 rear axles, reducing dead weight by 500 kilograms; and positions including the carriage were also in lightweight design, reducing a total of two tons, said Chen, adding, We transport ingredients to places 50 to 60 kilometers away and have to pay highway tolls on the way. Light vehicles can transport more and reduce transport frequencies, thus saving tolls. Besides, as overload inspections have become more rigorous, light vehicles are more economical with costs counted in. For these reasons, we will only purchase light vehicles in the future.

Besides light weight, Chen has high requirements for vehicles power performance. As there are many mountain areas and steep slopes in the south, powerful engines are needed, Chen said, adding these demands are exactly the characteristics of Yuchai engines as well as the reasons that Chen chose Yuchai engines.

Recalling his experience of using vehicles, Chen said he had used engines of other brands before, but they fell into disuse soon for lack of power. Only Yuchai engines are comfortable to use, and they can save fuel by one liter or two per kilometer, he added.

Standard 2: reliable and easy to resell

Yuchai-powered Dongfeng dump trucks just delivered in mid-September

Due to the robust demand for concrete, a mixing plant of Shengtian alone had to output 200,000 cubic meters of concrete per month. Accordingly, Shengmao Logistics transported a large quantity of sand stone, about twice the quantity before.

We have two drivers for each vehicle, who worked by day and night respectively. Except repairs, they are basically on the way. Given such high-intensity transport, vehicle reliability has become one of Chens major standards of vehicle selection.

Due to the low failure rate of Yuchai engines, our drivers like Yuchai-powered vehicles very much. Even in case of failure, they recover well. Chen explained engines with some damage generally cannot restore to their original state after overhauls, and the degree of recovery is referred to as recovery rate. After overhauls, the power of some engines with low recovery rates may reduce, thus affecting their dynamic performance greatly. Yuchai engines, solid and durable, can restore to 99 percent of their original state. More importantly, parts of Yuchai engines are available anywhere.

Due to high attendance, the vehicles of Shengmao Logistics are upgraded fast, A vehicle will be upgraded after operating for three years. Used vehicles are unsalable as the transport industry is sluggish currently, Chen said. Our telephone rang off the hook after we placed sales advertisement on newspapers, but it is totally different now. However, customers recognized Yuchai engines and all our Yuchai-powered vehicles are more salable than used vehicles powered by other engines, and sell for several thousand yuan more.

Due to the market slump, some heavy-duty truck distributors in Nanning have offered a lot of purchase discounts, such as a down payment of only 100,000 yuan. Despite these alluring discounts, Chen prefers high reliability and utility of vehicles. My standard of selecting Yuchai-powered vehicles will not change.

According to sources, after the delivery of the 15 Yuchai-powered Dongfeng T-Lift dump trucks, Shengmao Logistics will receive the second batch of 16 trucks with same type. Then, the company will possess up to 79 Yuchai-powered heavy-duty trucks.

(Source: Li Xuelei/cvworld.cn)