Idwala celebrates new additions to fleet

Idwala Industrial Holdings Limited, a producer of industrial minerals and lime, recently celebrated the acquisition of an additional eight interlink side tipper combinations to complement its existing fleet of 30 bulk powder tankers and eight curtain-side vehicles.

These include new Mercedes-Benz Actros and Volvo FH horses and 40-m³ side tipper interlinks built by Afrit, as well as 40-m³ dry bulk powder tankers built by Duncanmec.

“The operational performance of each of our vehicles is of paramount importance and has been fine-tuned over the past 25 years to optimise routes and efficiencies,” says Gary Wood, head of logistics at Idwala Industrial Holdings Limited.
 
“We use the term ‘sweat the assets’ daily in our business, and each vehicle is monitored 24-hours a day. Every minute is accounted for by a team of dedicated operational staff,” he adds.

The new tipper combinations run coal from Witbank to Daniëlskuil in the Northern Cape. There, they collect lime in Daniëlskuil and travel back to Vereeniging, where the product is milled, hydrated and packaged. The round trip is just under 1 600 km.

Most of the fleet achieves in the region of 800 km per day, which adds up to 22 400 km per month, or 268 800 km per year.  The lifecycle of a vehicle is estimated at just under three years, travelling 800 000 km over this period.