Iceland: an Actros 2663 transports ÍSTAK's heavy-duty construction machinery
Economics & Logistics
Increasing numbers of tourists are pouring into Iceland. To ensure that the country's infrastructure doesn't collapse, building sites have popped up everywhere. The country's leading construction company ÍSTAK is a familiar name when it comes to such projects. The Icelandic firm is doing particularly well in terms of cost-efficiency thanks to their new Mercedes-Benz trucks.
The island of myths and volcanoes. Europe's second-biggest island is shaped by volcanic activity and immense amounts of water. For the majority of Icelanders, the craggy landscape is also the home of numerous mythical creatures.
Untouched nature. Rough landscapes like the hard-to-reach highlands drew more than 1.5 million tourists to the island in 2016.
Some inhabitants of Iceland believe it is just a matter of time before the island's first fairies and elves start letting their secret properties to visitors. Tourism on Iceland is in full swing. If you count the number of overnight stays, on average there are almost 30.000 tourists in the country every day. This notable figure was calculated by the Icelandic bank Islandsbanki in a recent study of theirs. With just 337.000 inhabitants, it is among the highest quotas in the world.
According to Islandsbanki, tourism already generates a third of Iceland's export receipts. So it should come as no surprise that every third new job created these days is in precisely that sector. The country's unemployment rate has fallen to just 2.6 percent, with tourism having helped Iceland out of the difficult economic crisis which started in 2008. That said, the infrastructure didn't enjoy the same growth as the visitor numbers. For Sigurdur Sigurdsson and his new Mercedes-Benz trucks, that means there's a whole lot of work to be done.
The 53-year-old Icelander is a trained carpenter and today works as
a Service Operations Manager at ÍSTAK. The company is located in
Mosfellsbær, about 15 kilometres north of the capital Reykjavik, and
is one of Iceland's largest construction companies. ÍSTAK and its 330
employees are predominantly involved in large-scale projects financed
by the state: schools, hospitals, power stations, ports, tunnels,
roads and bridges.
“We see ourselves as the descendants of the Vikings. We love nature, we happily go to battle and are men of action; it's in our veins.”
Sigurdur Sigurdsson, Service Operations Manager
at ÍSTAK in Mosfellsbær
This article contains additional material (videos, images and reports etc.) for registered RoadStars members. In order to experience the article to the full, you need to log in with your RoadStars account or register for one free of charge.
Become a RoadStar and gain access to exclusive content and campaigns!
Login for RoadStars members
Not yet a member? Join RoadStars now
Obtain exclusive access to exciting events and activities which only RoadStars can offer.
Join RoadStarsInfrastructure in need of some TLC.
The buildings developed by the company are familiar from daily life on the island. Amongst other things, ÍSTAK built the international Leifur Eiríksson terminal at the airport in Keflavik and renovated the Hallgrímskirkja, the country's largest and most famous church, as well as the parliament building in the capital, Reykjavik. In 2016, the company turned over around eight billion Icelandic kronur, which corresponds to around 71 million euros.
Besides projects on Iceland, ÍSTAK also looks after construction projects on the Faroe Islands and in Greenland.
Sigurdur Sigurdsson explains: "As a construction firm on a rather sparsely populated island without any real network of supplier companies, we have to be able to offer everything from a single source: that ranges from the planning of groundwork right up to the production of complete ready-made building components."
ÍSTAK's fleet is accordingly big and very varied. It comprises around 350 vehicles, among which there are numerous heavy-duty diggers, wheeled loaders, cranes and other construction machines and even eight boats.
Alongside the four brand-new Arocs 2653 with Meiller tipper body currently in operation for ÍSTAK as part of the expansion of the airport, there are also a further five Actros tractor units in the fleet. With the youngest member of the fleet, an Actros 2663, the company currently transports up to 120 tonnes of heavy machinery to more than 20 building sites spread across the entire island.
Self-serviced. Almost all of the construction machinery is serviced in ÍSTAK's own workshop directly.
Own manufacture. Due to a lack of suppliers, the experts at ÍSTAK have to make many of the required components themselves.
For the apron. With four Arocs 2653 trucks, the company transports gravel from their own quarry to the building site at Keflavik airport.
Cost-efficiency is crucial.
"We see ourselves as the descendants of the Vikings. We love nature, we happily go to battle and are men of action; it's in our veins. In the past, however, we didn't spend enough time thinking about the implications of our actions, as can be seen from the partially unstructured development of Reykjavik.
The economic downturn really opened the eyes of many of us. We're now rethinking many decisions much more thoroughly," says Sigurdur Sigurdsson. "Something which we paid particular attention to during the renewal of our truck fleet was cost-efficiency."
Route 1 in Iceland is known as the Hringvegur, or ring road. It has a total length of 1.339 kilometres and goes all around the island, but apart from this road, only very few of the inland roads are actually completely asphalted. And let's not forget the very rough climatic conditions which the country experiences: a permanent, icy wind accompanied by immense amounts of snow in winter and regular showers of ash resulting from eruptions of the island's many volcanoes. For ÍSTAK's 20 drivers, that means harsh working conditions.
"We found out that the trucks from Mercedes-Benz were extremely
reliable in the rough conditions here," says Sigurdur Sigurdsson.
By using tractor units and tipper trucks from Mercedes-Benz, we
managed to reduce our maintenance costs and thus increase our
competitivity."
Click here to leave RoadStars and to find out more information within Google Maps: Map on Google Maps
Photos: Christoph Börries
Video:
Alexander Tempel
Comment
Please log in to post a comment.
6 comments
Gruß
Klaus
Gruß
Klaus
Diese Landschaften sind einfach nur grandios.
Diese Landschaften sind einfach nur grandios.