With the largest privately owned fleet of heavy duty trucks in Jamaica, Tank Weld has gained decades of experience in the maintenance of trucks and heavy equipment. For the first time since its inception in 1970, Tank Weld saw the opportunity to modernize its fleet with a top of the line truck at an affordable price level. In the past, Tank Weld, like the majority of other haulage contractors in Jamaica, has survived by purchasing very old trucks due to the prohibitive cost of new trucks, and limited commercial vehicle financing, the result being less than optimal efficiency in our haulage operations.

 

Shacman, a China state owned company employing some 32,000 people, carries with pride the philosophy of “Service and Quality”, and derived its name as follows:

 

SHA– is the first three letters in the Shaanxi Automobile group, and also the city where the factory is located

 

C– is the first letter in the name of the American engine builder Cummins Inc., a fortune 500 corporation that designs, manufactures and distributes engines, filtrations and power generation units

 

MAN – Stands for the advanced complete vehicle heavy duty truck technology introduced from the MAN Truck and Bus Ag group in Germany

 

In addition to the Cummins and MAN technology, Shacman uses many components that have come to be known and well respected in the heavy duty truck world. Names such as Fast Gear, Eaton, ZF, Williams, HYVA to name a few.

 

Tank Weld has been observing the performance of Shacman trucks in Jamaica while being used by China Harbour Engineering Company under rugged conditions for years. This led us to the decision to purchase several different types trucks in 2017 for our own testing under heavy loads.

 

We were very excited with the results in every respect, and immediately proceeded to develop a relationship with Shacman. We were invited to visit the plant in Shaanxi China which confirmed our expectation that Shacman is a substantial manufacturer which has immense pride in the quality of its trucks through extensive research and development, and also its strong and unwavering commitment to after-sales service for its customers.

 

Tank Weld also recognized the inherent deficiency in obtaining financing for commercial vehicles in Jamaica, partly due to the very old trucks being purchased by haulage contractors and hence which would disqualify the collateral requirement of the banks. This led Tank Weld to take the initiative to team up with JN Bank, who immediately saw the opportunity to break into the void and offer financing terms to haulage contractors who buy Shacman trucks, with terms of financing not seen in Jamaica in the past for this small business segment.

 

Tank Weld sees the combination of the high quality of the Shacman truck, the reputation of Tank Weld to provide strong support for parts and service, the attractive financing by JN Bank, and the solid commitment of the Shacman company, to be revolutionary for the trucking industry in Jamaica. This will certainly open up opportunities for small, medium and large haulage contractors that never existed before.