LKC’S RELIABLE HEAVY-DUTY ‘PARTNERS’
LKC Holdings Sdn Bhd (LKC Holdings) may not be a household name but it is one of the largest homegrown general transportation solution and heavy transport service providers in the country.
The Port Klang-based company has been involved in some of the largest infrastructure projects in the country, including the Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development project in Pengerang, the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project and Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project in the Klang Valley.
LKC executive chairman Low Seng Chuan said the company’s success today was mainly driven by, among others, its thorough and detailed planning on every job, as well as its solid and reliable fleet of transport vehicles.
He said there were “a lot of engineering calculation” needed when transporting heavy and oversized products, such as train coaches, oil and gas pipelines, and others. These calculation include analysing the road condition and evaluating if the road was wide enough for the cargo to go through.
Other obstructions include trees, power cables, lamp posts, road dividers and traffic lights.
“If the need arises, we have to first remove these obstacles and put them back when the cargo has passed through,” Low said.
“If the cargo is heavier than 200 tonnes and need to cross a bridge or flyover, we would need to first present our calculations to the Public Works Department.”
“When transporting heavy or oversized cargo weighing 200 to 300 tonnes on the highway, the safety of other road users come first. We cannot operate two or three prime movers at the same time and thus blocking traffic and congesting the highway.”
Low added that getting the right equipment and prime mover was very important.
“We cannot have a breakdown in the middle of the road when we are transporting our cargo. That’s why we need prime movers that are very reliable,” he said.
Low said LKC engaged with Volvo Trucks Malaysia about 12 years ago.
“We explored the option of using Volvo Trucks because of its reputation in terms of quality and reliability. So we engaged Volvo Trucks Malaysia and purchased the FM480 for our fleet of
heavy transport to pull heavy cargo that weighs more than 200 tonnes.
“Because the FM480 gave us a very good feeling that Volvo Trucks does have a good reliability kind of history behind it, we then purchased the FMX520 in 2016.”
Low said last year, the company decided to make Volvo trucks its flagship vehicle for heavy transportation.
“We purchased the FH16 with customised compressor air tanks to deliver air to all the hydraulic axles. At that time, the FH16 was new in the market, and we were told that the lead time to order was about eight to nine months in Malaysia. So we took a gamble and we ordered two units.”
He said the FH16 was equipped with the latest technology like the “ultra low crawler gear”, which provided an added safety feature to the driver and other road users.
He also shared his team’s experience when they tested the FH16 in Sweden - when they tested the vehicle at a slop of about 45 degrees, the truck was able to start from standstill with loads up to 325 tonnes, and drive at a speed of 0.5kph to 2kph.
“For heavy transportation, the fear that we have is when we cannot move uphill. Because we are stuck half way in a no man’s land, either we go up or we come down. Going down is very dangerous, especially the safety of the people behind. At the same time, going up may cause the engine to break. It is not easy to pull a 300 tonnes up a slope. That is why there are a lot of safety measures involved,” Low explained.
Rames Ramaneynathan, one of LKC’s FH16 drivers, said the new ultralow crawler gear helped a lot and was less tiring for the driver.
“Without the ultra low crawler gear feature, we needed to constantly clutch in and change gear when travelling uphill. We also needed to take care of the temperature as it was easy to get overheated when climbing uphill.”
Rames added that the system available on the FH16 was able to indicate errors, giving drivers a better idea on the status of the vehicle.
“Last time, we had to drive until the prime mover stalled and only then can we find out what was the problem and repair it. Now the FH16 will identify the problems,” said Rames.
He said the iPark feature available on the FH16 was very useful as well.
“This feature helps to save fuel and it is safer for us when we taking a rest at R&R areas. The system will cool the cab and sleeper without the need to idle the engine,” said Rames.