Transporting concrete: Kevin Karanja from Kenya drives for Stadsbader
Panorama
In Kenya, Kevin used to drive an Actros. Now he drives an Arocs – sometimes with a tipper and sometimes with a concrete mixer.
Kevin Karanja loves his job: he's sitting at the wheel of his Arocs 1943 4x4 tractor unit, grinning broadly. It is still early in the morning at the airport in Zaventem. Where large passenger planes usually roll, white and red Arocs trucks are now driving back and forth.
New asphalt.
Together with his colleagues, Kevin is delivering concrete or stabilised sand for the runway which is being completely replaced. The drivers commute between the huge apron and the central concrete silos at the edge of the airport which their employer Stadsbader has put in place. “Normally I do this work with my tipper semitrailer, but if necessary I exchange it for a semitrailer with a mixer body. It is this variety that I like so much about my job,” says Kevin while he skilfully manoeuvres his truck under the concrete silo. A signal sounds a few minutes later. The tipper is full and Kevin drives back in the direction of the tarmac. When he returns from the airport he drives into the compound where the concrete silos are. This time, the concrete silos aren’t his destination, instead he heads to the sand and gravel stocks.
Because he didn't want to wait, Kevin paid for his Belgian driving licence from his own pocket.
Enjoying work is his motivation.
While his trailer is being filled by a wheeled loader, the driver tells us how he came from Kenya to Belgium. “I worked there as a driver and always drove an Actros. However there wasn’t enough work for someone who likes to work hard. That’s why I came to Europe and landed in Belgium,” Kevin reminisces. It was anything but easy for him to find a job as a driver straight away. “My Kenyan driving licence wasn’t recognised here, so I had to take driving lessons again and re-do my driving test,” Kevin explains. The waiting lists for free training at the VDAB (Flemish employment and vocational training agency) were so long that he decided to pay for his class C and CE driving licences himself. “That wasn't a cheap solution, but I wanted to start at any cost. And luckily, once I had my driving licence in my pocket, I was able to start working for Stadsbader immediately after a short interim period,” Kevin reports. And he has a great time working at the company for which he has been on the road since then.
Comfort and power.
Kevin isn’t just impressed by his employer, but also by the machinery he uses: an Arocs 4x4. “Before that, I drove an Actros. That was great. But I like my new truck even more. “It’s comfortable and offers a lot of space,” says Kevin who is also well-satisfied with the bed in his truck: “It makes my breaks a lot more pleasant.
It does you good when you can lie down in the breaks.”Kevin is also full of praise for the 315 kW of output provided by his new machine. “The PowerShift 3 automatic transmission perfectly transfers the power to all four wheels so that my truck always has sufficient traction. What more do you need for a fantastic day at work,” Kevin laughs. He then restarts the engine and steers the Arocs in the direction of the tarmac – time to transport that sand to the building site.
Photos: Dirk Willemen
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7 comments
Gruß
Klaus
Gruß
Klaus
Die Berufskraftfahrer Branche braucht motivierte und engagierte Leute!
Die Berufskraftfahrer Branche braucht motivierte und engagierte Leute!