Scania : “I wish we ordered more of the new trucks!”

With one of the first trucks from Scania's new generation, Sørum Transport delivers just in time for Norway's largest infrastructure project in modern times. The company's owner, Harry Nilsen, is very happy with his new workhorses. 'My only regret is that I didn´t order more of them,' he says.

After three weeks of hard work, Sørum Transport´s new Scania R 580 has become a familiar sight in an expanding construction industry in the Oslo region. The driver, Knut Ivar Johansen, sees himself as the biggest winner of the newcomer's arrival.

'In terms of driving comfort, there has been a great development compared to the trucks I used to drive! One of the best improvements for me is the driving position. The new Scania feels extremely stable,' says Johansen.

In a typical working day Johansen and his new truck deliver cement in dry bulk tank trailers, from the port of Oslo to a concrete plant in a gravel pit next to Gardermoen international airport. The 50-km rout includes driving in both industrial areas, city roads and highways.

Praise for new Opticruise

'That´s why I also enjoy another big improvement - the Scania Opticruise. It has really made my job easier. In my previous trucks I rarely used the Opticruise, I more or less always drove manually. Now, with the lay shaft brake system in the gearbox, I use the Opticruise all the time, in all types of traffic.'

The owner and General manager of Sørum Transport, Harry Nilsen, says it is too early to evaluate the fuel consumption.

'At the same time as we switched to this new truck, Norway switched to winter fuel making it even harder to compare. But given what we know about the new trucks we expect a reduced fuel consumption,' he says.

Reliability most important

With 60 Scania trucks in the fleet, Sørum Transport delivers almost 600,000 tons of cement each year. The largest mission is for the tunnel of 'Follobanen', a new railway which is Norway's largest infrastructure project in modern times.

'We deliver 300,000 tons of concrete to this 19.5 km long railway tunnel to be completed by 2021,' says Harry Nilsen.

Nilsen's main concern, when renewing his fleet of vehicles, is reliability.

'We have clients in both industry and agriculture, producing 365 days a year. It´s a must for them that the goods will arrive on time. Several customers have fairly small silos that need to be refilled frequently, in a steady flow that we ourselves monitor from our own computers. When uptime is so crucial for the customers we must be able to trust that our deliveries are at exactly the right time, seven days a week. With this new truck generation, in combination with the service and maintenance Scania provides, I have absolutely no worries!'

Starstruck at the launch

In August, Harry Nilsen was invited to Scania's launch of the new trucks in Paris. Shortly before, he had ordered four new Scania V8 trucks. In Paris he was starstruck seeing and learning about the new generation of trucks.

'I felt at once that this is the truck we need for our operations, and I ordered two more V8:s from the new generation. What I can regret today is that I was a little bit too hot-headed before the launch. I should have waited and ordered six new ones!'

'But the ones from the previous generation are also V8:s, making them good alternatives to our new ones. As I said, reliability is of utmost importance for us. So, the service of our vehicles is as important as the trucks. We must have the support needed when that need arise. And we know we get that from Scania!'