... JN assists with truck purchases

TANK-WELD (TW), a nearly 50year-old heavy-duty equipment company, says it was observing Shacman trucks in Jamaica for several years before inking a deal with the company in January of this year.

Shacman has been operating units under rugged conditions in Jamaica for the China Harbour Engineering Company, and in 2017 TW purchased several trucks to test for its own purposes.

“We were very excited with the test results in every respect, and immediately proceeded to develop a relationship with Shacman,” John Ralston, TW’s managing director explained.

“We were invited to visit the plant in Shaanxi, China, which confirmed our expectation that Shacman is a substantial manufacturer who has immense pride in the quality of its trucks through extensive research and development. In addition, its commitment for after-sales service for its customers,” Ralston said. Shacman employs some 32,000 people.

Recognising the deficiency of opportunities for financing, TankWeld partnered with JN Bank to provide a commercial loan for local haulage contractors to finance the purchasing of the heavy-duty vehicles.

“We see this as a boon for an important subsector of the micro and small business industry,” said Saniah Spencer, chief marketing and product development, JN Bank, who noted that the subsector’s importance to the economy is often underappreciated.

EMPOWERING ECONOMY

“JN Bank’s philosophy is centred on developing solutions to empower all segments of the Jamaican economy; and, we strongly believe that the haulage subsector is an area where the country can achieve significant growth,” Spencer underscored.

In his summation, Ralston said that, “Tank-Weld sees the combination of the high quality of the Shacman truck, the strong support for parts and service by Tank-Weld, the attractive financing by JN Bank, and the solid commitment of Shacman, to be revolutionary for the trucking industry in Jamaica.”

“This will certainly open up opportunities for small, medium and large haulage contractors which never existed before,” he affirmed.