Congratulations to Dharmendra Arejune, a truck driver from Mersey Trading, on taking first place in Volvo Trucks South Africa’s ‘Most Fuel Efficient Driver’ competition, the finals of which were held towards the end of June.
Arejune competed against nine other drivers who had made it through the regional rounds of the competition to reach the finals. In second place was Edward Bierman from Franco Bulk Transport and Thokozane Nene from Normandien Farms took third place.
The South African leg of the competition forms part of the Volvo Trucks global competition which has seen over 10 000 drivers from 40 countries competing for the chance to represent their countries at the grand finale in Gothenburg, Sweden in September 8th and 9th , where the world’s most fuel efficient driver will be crowned.
Explaining the rationale behind this global competition, Malcolm Gush, sales director of Volvo Trucks South Africa, says driving fuel efficiently is not only good for business but is also beneficial for the environment.
“For an owner or fleet manager, 10% of the fuel consumption is controlled by how the driver operates the vehicle. This has a huge impact on the overall total operating costs where 40% of the total operating cost of a fleet is attributed to fuel,” says Gush, adding that the competition also forms part of Volvo Trucks’ environmental commitment, aptly termed ‘every drop counts.’
The route for the South African leg of the competition took place over 34,8 km/s with drivers being judged on the following four areas:
- Time and traffic rules
- Engine and gearbox utilization
- Fuel consumption and;
- Anticipation and braking.
To ensure the drivers obeyed the rules of the road, a judge was placed with each driver while completing the route. To monitor all other areas of the challenge, Volvo’s proprietary Dynafleet app was used.
Arejune will now represent South Africa at the world finals where one driver will receive the title of the world’s most fuel efficient driver, as well as a once in a lifetime travel experience opportunity courtesy of the Volvo Truck Corporation.
While there can only be one winner in any compeition, FleetWatch would like to congratulate all the finalists as being a credit to the South African truck driving profession. Here they are:
| Name of company | Driver |
| Mersey Trading | Dharmendra Arejune |
| Normandien Farms | Thokozani Nene |
| Bigfoot Express Freight | Gonaseelan Gengen |
| Xinergistix Management Services | Casper Davids |
| VDM Vervoer | Daniel Visser |
| Andersons Transport | Adriaan du Preez |
| Triton Line Haul | Andrew Steenkamp |
| DHL | David Masimine |
| Franco Bulk Transport | Edward Bierman |
| DHL | Abel Ndala |
