The international development organisation – co-founded by the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport – needs an artic combination to bolster its training fleet from early 2018, and is calling on manufacturers, dealers, used vehicle retailers and operators to come forward with donations.
The tractor and trailer will be used for training hundreds of new commercial vehicle drivers every year in the Mukono district, east of Kampala, where Transaid has embarked on a major new training initiative to ensure Ugandan drivers can meet the needs of the oil, gas and related sectors, in the face of rising demand for qualified drivers.
Neil Rettie, Transaid’s road safety project manager, says: “Uganda is a right-hand drive market, so ex-UK trucks are commonplace here.
“We are ideally seeking a 6x2 or 6x4 tractor unit with a large high-roof sleeper cab, sufficient to comfortably accommodate an instructor and three students. We’re quite used to removing sleeper bunks to facilitate additional seating inside the cab – the key thing is ensuring it’s got sufficient leg room to make a conversion possible, plus ideally a flat floor or minimal intrusion from an engine tunnel.”
Transaid preferably requires a tractor unit which is no more than five years old, and ideally with a manual gearbox and standard flat-glass mirrors. Tractors with minimal electronics and ancillary equipment are preferred, as are vehicles which don’t require AdBlue. Low ride-height tractors are unsuitable, due to the need to frequently navigate large speed bumps and sometimes rough road conditions.
For the trailer, Transaid is ideally seeking a tri-axle box van, tanker, flat bed or skeletal (supplied with an empty shipping container), and no more than 10 years old.
The donated assets are expected to remain in service for many years, and can be supplied with special livery to reflect the supplying company’s donation.
Send offers of assistance to Jade Ashby at Transaid: email jade@transaid.org.