Engen drives efficiency with the Mercedes-Benz Actros 2645FS Euro 5.

Engen drives efficiency with the Mercedes-Benz Actros 2645FS Euro 5.

Engen recently bought twenty-three Mercedes-Benz Actros 2645 FS Euro 5 trucks in support of their drive towards a sustainable fleet. The deal was concluded with United Motors Commercial Vehicles and the last units were delivered in December 2023. We checked in with Bonnie Moyo, Transport and Logistics Manager at Engen South Africa to find out more about Engen and their experience with the Mercedes-Benz Actros 2645 FS Euro 5 trucks. This is what Bonnie had to say:

Question: Tell us more about Engen?
Answer: Engen is an African based energy group focusing on the marketing of petroleum lubricants and functional fluids chemicals retail and convenience services across several countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean. Our core functions are really the supply and distribution of our primary refined petroleum products and the provision of convenient services via our retail network. We have approximately 1280 service stations and several commercial customers in sub-Saharan Africa. We are committed to providing impeccable customer service and always living up to our brand promise which is with us you are number one. We are a very customer centric organization, we look at the customer, we look at what the customer wants and how we can satisfy the customer’s needs from the time they walk onto the forecourt, into the shop, when they get their fuel, get their convenience foods - we expect every encounter to be a delightful experience for our customers. I think that's been proved by Engen being awarded the coolest petrol station for several years now.

Question: How big is Engen’s fleet and what portion of the fleet is Mercedes-Benz Trucks?
Answer: Our business consists of 70% owned and 30% TLP third party trucks. We have approximately 140 trucks in our owned fleet of which approximately 60% of the trucks are Mercedes-Benz Trucks. When it comes to Engen we try and keep up to industry best practice and this also applies to our transport fleet management.

Question: How does Engen’s select the trucks and the brand of trucks that they purchase?
Answer: We go through a comprehensive tender process looking at certain criteria. While we strongly look at the technical aspects of the trucks to select the best value fleet, we also consider other aspects. Best value however does not only mean best price, but we also have obligations as a corporate citizen to the environment, safety, and health and all of this is considered.

Question: Can you tell us more about the Mercedes-Benz Actros 2645 FS Euro 5 trucks that Engen recently purchased and why Engen chose these trucks, particularly?
Answer: We have a sustainable approach to our fleet replacement program, so as we look to replace units, we try to find a solution that would give us leverage both from productivity and performance perspective but also contribute towards environmental sustainability, through lower CO2 emissions. In addition, safety is extremely important to us, for the drivers themselves as well as the other road users. The Mercedes-Benz Actros 2645 FS Euro 5 was very strong in both aspects and due to its high safety features we opted for the product. Off course our vision is to build our sustainable fleet for the future, and we would like to progress to Euro 6 for further emission reductions.

Question: Do you have any feedback on the performance of the Mercedes-Benz Actros 2645 FS Euro 5?
Answer: Because these trucks are Euro 5, they are the most fuel-efficient trucks in our fleet. But apart from good fuel consumption the one thing that we really like about the Mercedes-Benz Actros 2645 FS Euro 5 is its safety features. It is perfect for urban driving in terms of collision avoidance due to the Active Brake Assist 5, Proximity Control Assist, Attention Assist, Lane Keeping Assist and Tire Pressure Monitor. If you think about our drivers, driving 40,000 liters of fuel in peak traffic, they need to be very agile and need all the assistance they can get from the truck. Incident management is extremely important to us and understanding why incidents happen and whether these safety systems can prevent them is something we are investigating ongoingly. We are also very impressed with the Fleetboard system. We wanted to project emissions reductions going forward; we received our first Fleetboard reports within a week of the trucks going onto the road, and it immediately gave us this and other valuable information, like for instance that the drivers excessively use the service break instead of the retarder, the drivers are switching off PPC (Predictive Powertrain Control) and not using cruise control optimally. All these things lead to higher fuel consumption and emissions and increases maintenance cost and breakdowns. So Fleetboard gives you a basis to identify a particular driving style and to adjust that driving style through driver training to ensure that the truck is driven optimally to keep it on the road through preventative maintenance. Everything simply by monitoring how people drive and changing their behavior. This is what drives profitability and sustainability.

Question: It seems like you are happy with the product, but how has your experience been, dealing with the dealership and DTSA?
Answer: A very collaborative, and I'll say delightful experience to be quite honest. Our contact person at United Motors is Tjokker and what I found particularly impressive was his open communication. From communicating the pre-delivery schedule, planning the delivery to the actual delivering of the trucks, there was not a single hiccup, everything was done on time. Between Engen, DTSA and United Motors we had very close planning amongst us and both organizations understood what we wanted and when we wanted it by and the urgency to have our trucks on the road.

Question: What has Engen’s experience been in terms of the after-sales and maintenance repairs with Mercedes-Benz Trucks?
Answer: It has been good, I found that Mercedes-Benz Trucks is very responsive when we encounter any issues with our trucks and this is really appreciated in the transport industry which is all about time, time is of the essence. Mercedes-Benz Trucks understand our requirements in terms of quick turnaround times, especially when it comes to breakdowns. So, we have a good relationship with Mercedes-Benz Trucks, and we know they will be there when we need assistance. We are also happy with the good national footprint that Mercedes-Benz Trucks offer, providing service when and where we need it.

Question: Tell me more about Engen’s passion to give back to the community?
Answer: As a company we recognized that to be considered a responsible corporate citizen we need to play a role to help alleviate poverty, address unemployment and inequality and contribute towards an inclusive social economic growth for South Africa. Engen continues to invest in CSR projects that focus on education, health, safety, environment, community well- being and people living with disabilities. Our flagship CSR investment is the Engen math and science school program which has been providing supplementary Mathematics, Science, and English classes to grade 11 learners. Over a period of 37 years, approximately1800 learners registered annually to attend weekly Saturday classes at 10 centers across South Africa.

Question: How does Engen’s CSI strategy link to the Gift of the Givers initiative between United Motors and Engen?
Answer: United Motors and Engen agreed that 1% of the value of each of the twenty-three trucks Engen bought from United Motors will be spent on a CSI initiative. Gift of the Givers were identified as the beneficiary and the 1% contribution of the twenty-three trucks allowed the donation of a brand-new FUSO FE-7 truck to them. The truck will be used to transport fuel to rural areas. In addition, Engen committed a further R 3 million fuel gift to Gift of the Givers in June 2023 taking its total fuel support of the disaster response organization from 2019 to 2023 to R11.5 million.

Question: What is Engen’s vision for the future?
Answer: Pushing the boundaries of service technology and innovation is what we do and want to do better. We strive to be part of our customers lives in ways that matter and that requires evolving beyond traditional offerings and services. Our vision is to become a recognized food convenience retailer in South Africa, and this means that we must build on our recent gains by accelerating the rollout of all our new innovative offerings including our Quickshop & Co Premium stores and cafe 365 coffee offer. What we do, who we do it for matters just as much as why we do it – to delight our customers.

Question: The Formula Engen event is coming up; can you tell me more about it?
Answer: Formula Engen is our annual logistics and distribution event to determine the driver of the year. Formula Engen consists of a driving competition portion which starts at the beginning of each year where the performance of drivers from the previous year are looked at, in terms of incidents the driver had the previous year. The pool of drivers who qualify based on the criteria go into the regional competitions which is held at coastal and inland locations. At the regional competition drivers do a theory assessment, practical assessments and from those regional competitions 24 drivers are picked, 12 from coastal and 12 from inland, to go to the final. The final consists of a practical assessment that includes maneuvering through obstacles, fire-fighting techniques, basic accuracy in in terms of positioning and moving a loaded truck. There is also the bulls eye test where the driver needs to stop the truck in the “bullseye” area demarcated. The driver of the year is determined at Formula Engen and wins R15,000. This year’s final was held on 30 November 2023, at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg. We were delighted that Mercedes-Benz Trucks joined us and offered our drivers a demonstration of all the safety features of the Mercedes-Benz Actros 2645 FS Euro 5.

Congratulations once again to Engen with the procurement of their new Mercedes-Benz Actros 2645 FS Euro 5 trucks. We look forward to this ongoing partnership with our mutual drive towards sustainable transportation.