Through the wilderness: an Actros SLT in New Zealand

Story

Power meets ability.

Where other trucks reach the end of the road, the Actros 3365 SLT still keeps going strong. Like when transporting a load of 52 tonnes through the wilderness of New Zealand.

Heavy-duty transport on unpaved roads – no margin for error when it comes to securing the load.


Was that it? Game over? Driver Stephen Taylor and manager Marc McNeilly are faced with a real challenge. The two employees of Fulton Hogan, one of the leading companies in New Zealand for road construction and infrastructure projects, are stopped somewhere in Waipori in Otago Province. It is early morning in this mountainous and densely forested territory on New Zealand's South Island. The first rays of sunlight bathe the horizon in a soft, golden glow.

Normally the only thing that can be heard around here where there are no people is the chirping of the birds. But on this morning a V8 engine producing 480 kW of power shatters the silence. An Actros 3365 SLT is fighting its way up a steep gravel road. Its load is as enormous as the truck itself: a Tigercat 880 weighing 52 tonnes, a quasi excavator with special function for working in the forest. It is being transported on a five-axle flat-bed trailer. The entire entourage is 15.5 meters long and 4.2 meters wide. Together, the tractor and trailer weigh a whopping 93 tonnes. The truck and its load represent two million euros' worth of high-tech.

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