AST Transports fares well with steady fleet expansion

Muruga Tyres’ Michelin truck service centre at Sankari opened

AST Transports of Sankari was started in 1982 by Mr. K. Asaithambi to carry goods, petroleum products and bulk LPG to various destinations across the country. He diversified his business portfolio into selling and servicing tyres through Sri Saravana Tyres in 2004, exclusively for Apollo Tyres, and Muruga Tyres in 2012 to deal exclusively with Michelin Tyres.

Michelin-AST-pic-2
Mr. K. Asaithambi, Managing Partner of AST Group of Companies, addressing the gathering at the MTSC inaugural function

The MOTORINDIA team had an opportunity to meet Mr. K.A. Karthick of AST Transports, also the son of Mr. Asaithambi, recently and discussed the current business climate in the district. Mr. Karthick, a young and dynamic person, follows his father’s footprint and has taken the family enterprise to greater heights.

Michelin-AST-pic-3
Mr. Manesh Pande of Michelin Tyres and Mr. K. Mohan, Regional Manager, Ashok Leyland, jointly inaugurating the Muruga Tyres’ Michelin Truck Service Centre

In his words: “We came into the business with a single truck and today we have a fleet strength of 46 trucks, predominantly from Ashok Leyland. We also have a few Tata trucks. We started our own petrol bunk in 2008. Since we found that the new entrant in this field, the Bharat Benz trucks, has been performing very well, we prefer these trucks for our petroleum tankers and containers.”

With tyres being the largest investment and expenditure for any fleet operator, almost 75 per cent of the trucks operating from Sankari have moved to radial tyres in order to get the best value for money. The group has recently inaugurated a wheel alignment centre in the region with all the latest equipment available in the market. The centre has the capacity to handle nearly 20-25 trucks in a normal day.

Michelin-AST-pic-1
A glittering view of the newly inaugurated service centre

“The group turnover for the last financial year was estimated to be Rs. 70 crores. We aim to reach Rs. 100 crores very soon. We also plan to open another BPCL outlet in this area very soon”, concluded Mr. Karthick.