Transporting metal ore in Lapland – a job for the Arocs

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Ore master.

In the rough north of Finland, just below the Arctic Circle, there is the largest chrome ore mine in Europe. Here in the snow and ice the new Arocs shows what it is made of.

A powerful pair – Samuli Suorsa and his Arocs 3251.


If you want to understand the Finns, you should take a look at Lapland. For example in Tornio. From the coastal town at the northern tip of the Gulf of Bothnia it is only about 90 kilometres to the Arctic Circle. Right next to it, to the west, Sweden begins. The summers are short and the forests seemingly endless. Icy winds, frost and snow have the land in their grip for up to 200 days a year.

"You want to know what makes us Finns what we are? Then look up there!" says Samuli Suorsa, pointing to the 14-percent hill in front of him. At the top you can see the silos he unloads his cargo into – 50 tonnes of chrome ore from a nearby mine. Together with his Arocs 3251 that makes 76 tonnes he has to drive up the hill.

Only a few metres from the road there are ice floes floating on the Baltic. Samuli presses his accelerator pedal right down – thankful for the automatic transmission: "With Mercedes PowerShift 3 I can stay in each gear for longer." The Arocs reaches the slope at 50 km/h. He drives up the winding road at full throttle. When he reaches the top, the speedometer is still showing 20 kilometres per hour. "The other trucks only just manage to grind up here," says Samuli. And particular in icy, slippery conditions the journey is a real challenge for drivers and vehicles. "But with my Arocs I can be sure of managing the gradient easily in all conditions," says Samuli.

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