Ebrahim Joosab (left), operations director of Colt Transport, Christian Coolsaet, MD of Volvo Trucks SA and Muhammad Arshad Joosab, fleet manager at Colt Transport, which company last week took ownership of eight new Volvo trucks that were fully imported from Sweden with Europe’s latest safety technologies on board.

Marketing and operations manager Ebrahim Joosab said the 32-year-old family business opted to go the fully-imported route because the full safety pack on the Volvos now working at Colt Transport is not yet available from the local assembly plant in KZN.

Joosab said the deal cost Colt Transport some R20 million, but it formed part of the company’s commitment to promote road safety. ‘One cannot put a price on safety of road users,’ said Joosab.

To this end all drivers also received driver training on the new rigs and are constantly monitored and mentored on the road with Volvo’s DynaFleet to ensure they deliver loads as cost-effectively as possible. Joosab said Colt Transport drivers were part of the family business, which was started in 1983 by the husband and wife team formed by his parents, using just an old Mercedes-Benz truck. Today Colt Transport has more than 60 trucks that haul freight mainly along the N3 between Durban and Johannesburg.

The company also maintains a modern warehouse with undercover loading facilities and container docking facilities at Mkondeni.