Transport Solutions India Ltd. (TSI) is emerging a significant player in providing transportation solutions for the road transport industry. In just a couple of years since inception, TSI has established a name for itself in the tipper and trailer segment. With a few joint ventures for providing transportation solutions of European standard, TSI is collaborating with some of the best names in the world, including Lohr of France.
Mr. Anand Singh, Chief Executive Officer of TSI, said: “We are aligning ourselves with the best global manufacturers in the respective product segments. Lohr is the largest manufacturer and a global leader in the car and truck carriers market.”
TSI has formed a 49:51 joint venture with Lohr Industries, France. The new company, Lohr India Automotive Private Ltd., in which Lohr will hold a majority stake, will invest INR 500 million and set up a green field facility at Chakan near Pune. With the help of Lohr’s expertise in design and technology, the venture aims to offer a superior product that can carry more vehicles in each carrier, meeting Indian legislation requirements. In fact, recently Lohr India rolled out its first few products in the Indian market and these were truck and bus chassis carriers. With almost all global vehicle manufacturers setting up production base in India, Lohr has decided to follow them, many of whom are its customers, to India.
Mr. Anand said: “In our interactions with our transport customers, OEMs and logistic companies, we found a huge gap between their requirement and the product available in the market. We identified that efficient transportation for finished vehicles like cars, and even trucks in the future, will be an important market in the Indian automotive logistics industry. Currently 1.5 million cars are manufactured in India and this is expected to double in the next 5 years. All these vehicles manufactured will have to be transported and distributed from the factory to various locations across India and abroad.
“On an average a vehicle carrier in India carries 3 to 4 cars on a single deck and 8 cars on a double deck. This gives an idea of the number of car carriers that would be required to transport 3 million cars. It is not just transporting them, but you need to do it in the most cost effective, efficient and the safe manner. This is where global companies like Lohr can offer their expertise”, added Mr. Anand.
Lohr India is introducing two new transport equipments to meet the Indian road and logistics industry requirement with the latest design and technical features. First is the SRTC model for transportation of new heavy vehicles like trucks, bus chassis, tractors, earth-moving and excavation equipment and all types of commercial vehicles. The semi-trailer is designed to maximise transport of heavy duty vehicles like tractors, truck chassis, bus chassis, and all other types of heavy commercials. Alternatively, the equipment can also carry light commercials, SUVs, 4x4s, cars and lifting platforms operated by hydraulic cylinders with special locking devices.
Today, when a truck chassis rolls out of the factory, it is driven on road upto the bus or truck body building facility. Typically a chassis from Ashok Leyland in Chennai will be sent to, say, Jalandhar, to build the bus bodies. Driving an open chassis on the main highway is highly unsafe. Moreover, a new vehicle would have already run 3,000 kms before it reaches the customer. The Government will very soon bring in a regulation whereby truck chassis will have to be transported using a truck carrier. Lohr is a leading manufacturer of truck carriers worldwide. Once mandated this will offer a huge opportunity.
Globally all truck chassis are transported on truck carriers. A typical truck carrier can carry upto 3 Volvo FM truck chassis. In fact, the first potential customer identified for this product is MercedesBenz for transporting bus chassis from its plant in Pune to its bus body builder in North India. The company is working on a design wherein two chassis can be carried one way and on return a fully built bus can be transported on the same carrier.
The second model chosen for the Indian market is SHR. This trailer is designed to maximise transport of all types of cars, SUVs, 4x4s and light commercials. It is fully covered with sliding armed tarpaulin to ensure safety and protection to the loaded products as well as personalised branding.
The trailer has tracks of perforated non-slip metal plating enabling wheel-chocks and wheel straps anchoring every 50 mm. It has frame with external beams and bolted sides. The upper platform which is the main deck is adjustable by screw lifting systems driven by hydraulic motors. In the lower position, the lifting platform is articulated at the front of the running gear and is adjustable by two hydraulic cylinders with manual locking. With driving tracks on the bottom of the chassis, it has loading ramps with driving tracks and dedicated storage in the back chassis. It has also a special set of ramps for bus chassis loads and vehicles sensible to loading angles.
Mr. Phillipe Fortmann, Managing Director of Lohr India, says the trailers that transport passenger cars in India do not comply with legal stipulations. “The length of a trailer should not be more than 18 metres and the maximum height should be 4.75 metres. The majority of the car-carrying trailers exceed the stipulation to carry fewer cars. As a result, brand new cars suffer damage during transportation to the dealers’ showrooms, requiring repairs and also impose additional costs on transport operators, he says. While meeting the legal stipulations in terms of length and height the trailers Lohr’s trailers have a higher capacity to carry more cars”.
Lohr is quite serious about the business opportunities in India. The company has spent considerable time research and has identified the customer and market requirements clearly. It feels there is a genuine requirement in the market. The Indian market will mature with the entry of global vehicle manufacturers and logistic companies, who will never want to comprise on the quality of the product or their service.
Lohr believes that the demand for quality car and truck transporting equipment will rapidly increase. It globally caters to most of these vehicle manufacturers and logistic companies and believes that these will definitely look at using Lohr’s products in India. In fact, even companies like L&T; are in talks with Lohr for providing transportation solutions for their products. Currently most of the vehicles are transported either on a flat bed or low bed trailers.
TSI’s vision is to be recognized as a truly global, complete road transportation solutions provider, bringing in more innovative, safe and quality solutions to
the industry. Its mission is to identify the gaps and requirements of the Indian transportation industry and address the same by bringing in the best available technologies worldwide.
