Sinotruk to improve logistics, services in Africa

The HOWO-A7 heavy duty trucks, manufactured by China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Co Ltd, at the Tianjin Port before being shipped to Angola. [Photo provided to China Daily]

To date, Sinotruk has built a global market network in 96 countries and regions, including 41 African countries. It has eight overseas manufacturing facilities in countries such as Russia and Malaysia. Its production bases in Africa are located in Nigeria and Morocco.

Supported by more than 25 subsidiaries, Sinotruk shipped 27,876 trucks with various functions to global markets, mainly to Africa, Central Asia and Latin America in 2015, up 12.43 percent year-on-year.

Liu Wei, deputy general manager of Sinotruk, said the main competitors in African markets are European truck makers such as Sweden's Scania AB and Volvo Car Group, Germany's Mercedes-Benz and MAN AG. Many of these European trucks are second-hand vehicles, widely used in construction work and logistics services.

The governments of Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya have all made changes to import regulations to try to reduce the country's dependence on imported second-hand trucks and encourage companies to buy new ones to help protect the environment and reduce heavy smoke on roads.

The Nigerian transportation authorities said only trucks first registered six years ago can now be imported after inspection.

Liu said the registration period may be reduced to three years this year and it is possible that imports will be banned eventually, presenting Chinese brands with a clear advantage.

Many local governments and logistics companies in Africa have also been keen to seek solutions and tackle problems of air pollution caused by heavy trucks.

Eager to meet market demand in the continent as well as other markets, Sinotruk started to design and produce compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, electric and other new-energy heavy-duty trucks since 2014.

China's 15 major automakers, including Shaanxi Automobile Holding Group, Chongqing Lifan Group and Great Wall Motors Group, have established 58 overseas plants. By 2015-end, they produced more than 200,000 vehicles in different regional markets, commerce ministry data show.

They have also created an $18-billion market for export of auto parts from China.

"The truck market is usually seen as a barometer of the macroeconomy, since it reflects the scale of commodity flow, regional trade, as well as infrastructure development," said Zhao Ying, a researcher at the Institute of Industrial Economics under the aegis of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.

In terms of competing with foreign rivals, Zhao said Chinese automobile makers must pay attention to sales details to secure their market share in a sustainable way.

"Many of their passenger vehicles and trucks often have incomplete user manuals. These product manuals have just one or two foreign languages, not in Africa, but in global market, while many foreign vehicles come with manuals in more than 10 different languages," he said.