The key handover ceremony ... held at Al Bustan Palace hotel in the presence of Lahutte, Al Araimi, Bahwan and other senior officials.

Iveco has delivered 207 of its high-performance Trakker trucks to Galfar Engineering and Contracting in Oman.

The vehicles were supplied through its dealer in the sultanate International Equipment and Contracting Company (IECC), a division of the Suhail Bahwan Group.

The vehicles will be used by Galfar for site preparation works at the Duqm Refinery project.

Iveco brand president Pierre Lahutte comments: “This deal is an important milestone for Iveco. Starting from Galfar’s requirements, we leveraged on both product features and Iveco’s reputation in the region, to meet customer needs. Iveco has always believed in partnering with clients to develop a unique suite of transport solutions, creating a platform to grow our business and push infrastructure development. This order is another example of that philosophy.”

Galfar chairman Salim Saeed Hamad Al Fannah Al Araimi says: “We have a strong business relationship with IECC that dates back to 2008. In addition to the recent order of 207 units, our fleet already has approximately 200 Iveco trucks of different models. We rely on Iveco’s class-leading fleet, as they have been extremely effective in meeting our stringent productivity standards.”

Bahwan International Group Holding chairman Ahmed Bahwan says: “In a short period of seven years since inception, IECC has carved out a strong position for itself in the commercial vehicle market in Oman. Driven by our ethos that puts the customer first, we have reliably provided new products and value-added services to our discerning consumers. This partnership is a further step in this direction.”

Iveco says its Trakker is designed to meet every kind of extreme off-road mission on wheels ranging from 18 to 70 tonnes.

The real innovation with Trakker, it says, is mainly the new Stralis-based cabin, resulting from the work carried out in collaboration with the dealers and customers who took part in the design to improve its driving comfort and the life on board – which is now widely acknowledged as being vitally important to productivity and safety.

The Trakker was designed from the outset to meet customers’ needs and expectations, primarily in terms of strength and reliability. It represents a perfect blend of strength, reliability, and the comfort of new Stralis AD and AT cabs.

The adoption of the grille and badging, already introduced on the new Stralis range, provides an improved platform for sign writing in the vehicle customer’s livery. The three-piece steel bumper, an essential cost-saving aspect of the range, is painted in a darker grey colour to match the plastic parts.

The Trakker range is available in both left- and right-hand drive that allows customers to tailor the product to their specific mission. The range includes the Cursor 13 engines and two cabins (Hi-Land and Hi-Track). Rigid truck versions are available in four by two, four by four, six by four, six by six, eight by four and eight by eight configurations with power ratings from 380 to 440 hp. Tractor versions are available in four by two, four by four, six by four, and six by six configurations with power ratings from 380 to 440 hp.

The Trakker was designed to support body building activities through a wide range of PTOs (power take-offs) driven by gearbox, transferbox and engine, electrical connections available, both within the cab and on the chassis, CAN open interface and expansion module.

The truck reduces maintenance costs minimising downtime with longer engine oil change intervals (once per year) and the quick and accurate diagnostics on board, says Iveco. Whether it is required to operate under the most extreme off-road conditions or spend most of its life on the road with occasional off-road excursions, the Trakker can be specified to optimise payload and fuel consumption.

Galfar is one of the largest, multi-disciplined engineering, contracting and construction companies in Oman with a turnover of more than $1 billion. As an organisation committed to best-practice business principles, Galfar has demanding truck procurement criteria, with an emphasis on safety, fuel efficiency, low environmental impact, driver comfort and best-in-class total cost of ownership.

Iveco is a brand of CNH Industrial, a world leader in capital goods. Iveco designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles, off-road trucks, and vehicles for applications such as off-road missions.

The brand’s wide range of products include Daily, a vehicle that covers the three- to seven-tonne vehicle segment; Eurocargo from six to 19 tonnes; Trakker; and Stralis – both over 16 tonnes. In addition, the Iveco Astra brand builds off-road trucks, rigid and articulated dumpers as well as special vehicles.