Cold Chain Network (M) Sdn Bhd recently took delivery of 17 units of Mercerdes-Benz Actros 2040 4x2 prime movers at a private function held at their office headquarters in Puchong.

Following a very stringent tender process, the Actros was chosen after having scored highest in an evaluation with a total of ten criteria. The vehicles were purchased from Lowe Motors Sdn Bhd, subsidiary of Cycle & Carriage Bintang Berhad.

When asked what business the company is in, Managing Director of Cold Chain Network (M) Sdn Bhd (CCN) Ariffin Buranudeen tells us that they are in fact “selling temperature”. He explains that CCN’s service covers four different levels of cold chain transportation. Air conditioned (e.g. Pharmacy products), chilled (yoghurt etc), frozen (fish, meats) and lastly deep frozen (ice-cream). Their headquarters in Puchong, Selangor serves as the main hub with a warehouse that caters for 20,000 pallets spaces to receive and store chilled, frozen and deep frozen goods. From here, over 60 customers are being supported with cool trucks.

Currently CCN’s has a fleet of prime movers comprising of some 68 trucks. Last year the company decided to add 17 Mercedes-Benz Actros 2040 4x2 prime movers to their fleet. These trucks were to replace older trucks as well as to add capacity to the growing needs of customers.

CCN’s Actros trucks are innovative too. Their multi-compartment trailers feature the possibility of transporting goods in two different temperature zones. Buranudeen says “This is to maximise every trip, to ensure a high load factor as you sometimes have smaller consignments that would not be enough for a full load.” An innovation team is looking into many different aspects of how improvements can be made. Currently, the team is working on ways to rapidly cool down the containers after loading and unloading. Instead of a blower, safe gases may be the answer to the quest for temperature integrity. “Quality is a long term value proposition. Yes, price is a consideration, but eventually, if you can’t deliver what the clients need, your cost is becomes irrelevant” he said.

The wide service network impressed CCN and together, the two companies even created a new scheme for driver training. Instead of a one-off familiarization, there will be ongoing refresher training scheduled for drivers who will even receive competency certificates for this.