The qualifying round of roadshows across various cities and towns in Malaysia kicked off earlier in April. At the recent Finals, the title winner Mr Nor Rahmat Bin Abd Talib, from Prifaria Sdn Bhd, Prai, defeated 17 other semi-finalists who were all vying to become Malaysia’s most fuel-efficient truck driver. As the national champion, Mr Nor Rahmat Bin Abd Talib is set to represent Malaysia in the competition’s APAC Finals – set to take place in Hua Hin, Thailand from 15th to 18th September 2015 where he will be competing against winners from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Indonesia, Korea and Singapore among others.
The guest at the dinner was entertained by games before the dinner began with arm wrestling contests and other games. Previous winners from 2013 and 2014 were present and gave tips and pointers to those that competed this year. I personally enjoyed being in the presence of the people that ply our roads and highways. These are good people. Hard working people that are the backbone of the transport industry and therefore, our economy.
Volvo Trucks continues to champion fuel efficiency and safety; reveals 2015 Fuelwatch Challenge winner
Mr Nor Rahmat Bin Abd Talib, truck driver for Prifaria Sdn Bhd in Prai to represent Malaysia in
Fuelwatch Asia Finals 2015 in Thailand
(From left) Mr. Law Ah Tiong, Vice President, Aftermarket, Volvo Malaysia; 2nd place winner En. Merzuki Bin Jusoh from Prifaria Sdn Bhd in Terengganu; Dato’ Tn. Hj Wan Ahmad Azmi bin Wan Daud, Managing Director, Prifaria Sdn Bhd; 1st place winner En. Nor Rahmat Bin Abd Talib from Prifaria Sdn Bhd in Prai; 3rd place winner En. Md Idwan Shah Parais Abdullah from Kota Mas Oil Sdn Bhd in Kota Kinabalu; En. Rusman Bin Japalus, Managing Director, Kota Mas Oil Sdn Bhd; and Guest-of-honor En. Mohd Yusop Bin Mohamad, Assistant Director of Automotive Engineering Division, Road Transport Department (JPJ), Malaysia Ministry of Transport.
Shah Alam, 24 August (Monday) 2015 - In its continuous quest to advocate fuel efficiency and road safety among truck drivers who are the life blood of the economy, Volvo Trucks (Volvo), which operates under Volvo Malaysia, has proudly revealed the Malaysian winner of its Fuelwatch Challenge 2015 at a Gala Dinner held at the Dorsett Grand Subang last Saturday.
Volvo Trucks’ annual Fuelwatch Challenge was held as a training and competition for truck drivers and it offers a treasure trove of skills and information, equipping truckers with the ability to churn out the best fuel consumption possible for their vehicles. This is achieved through a process that encompasses a comprehensive approach and setting the right ergonomics between man and machine for maximum output, with minimum fuel that leads to the best vehicle productivity and increased awareness on safety.
The qualifying round of roadshows across various cities and towns in Malaysia kicked off earlier in April. Today at the Finals, the title winner Mr Nor Rahmat Bin Abd Talib, from Prifaria Sdn Bhd, Prai, defeated 17 other semi-finalists who were all vying to become Malaysia’s most fuel-efficient truck driver.
The sixth instalment of this annual competition, this year’s challenge saw an overwhelming participation of over 1,000 drivers – an increase from last year’s participation of 800 drivers.
Recording the highest overall accumulated score based on theoretical tests during the preliminary rounds, Mr Nor Rahmat Bin Abd Talib was one of the 18 truck drivers to push through to the semi-finals and finals – where contestants needed to battle it out in a real time driving challenge covering a 45km distance. During the real time fuel efficiency test, Mr Nor Rahmat Bin Abd Talib achieved the lowest fuel consumption, clocking 2.83 kilometres with just one litre of fuel while carrying a load of 20 tonne in the Volvo FM 440 with i-shift technology.
Close behind were Mr Merzuki Bin Jusoh from Prifaria Sdn Bhd, Terengganu and Mr Md Idwan Shah Parais Abdullah from Kota Mas Oil Sdn Bhd, Kota Kinabalu who won the second and third places respectively. Mr Merzuki Bin Jusoh achieved 2.77 kilometres per one litre of fuel and Mr Md Idwan Shah Parais Abdullah achieved 2.56 kilometres per one litre of fuel. They won themselves RM3,000 BSN voucher (second place) and RM2,000 BSN voucher (third place), and a Fuelwatch trophy each.
As the national champion, Mr Nor Rahmat Bin Abd Talib is set to represent Malaysia in the competition’s APAC Finals – set to take place in Hua Hin, Thailand from 15th to 18th September 2015 where he will be competing against winners from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Indonesia, Korea and Singapore among others.
“Winning this challenge has been both a pleasant surprise and a thrill for me. I have been practicing on driving fuel-efficiently during my daily driving routine and today, it all paid off”, said Mr Nor Rahmat Bin Abd Talib.
He added, “It will be nerve-wrecking yet incredibly exciting to be contending with other national winners; but I am confident that if I do my best, I will hopefully be able to make Malaysia proud.”
When asked if he has any advice for other drivers and future contestants, he said that practice and commitment are vital to achieving the desired results.
“Our job requires us to be on the road roughly 8 hours a day, almost every day. While we are responsible for transporting and delivering our loads in a safe and timely fashion, we also need to ensure that we apply fuel-efficient driving techniques into our daily driving. This helps us not only reduce environmental footprints, but additionally helps us to conserve fuel – which contributes to reducing business costs. For those who have not participated in the Fuelwatch Challenge, I urge you to do so because it is a great training platform to teach drivers on safe and fuel-efficiency driving as well as empower them that the role they play makes a difference in society,” said Mr Nor Rahmat Bin Abd Talib.
The competition also goes beyond driving skills that saves fuel and increase environmental awareness as it also condones proper management, vehicle optimisation, performance monitoring, safety measures, and maintenance of the truck prior to usage. Not only will it contribute significantly to fuel efficiency on the road, it would also reduce the risk of a breakdown and more importantly, ensure the safety of the trucker.
“Quality, Safety, and Environmental Care have been our guiding principles since our inception in 1969. While we integrate these core values into our products, we strive to ensure that the end-users of our products – in this case, the drivers – also exhibit these very fundamental values in their everyday driving. We want our drivers to be of top-notch quality, who observes safe driving, and to drive and operate in the most fuel-efficient manner. These are makings of a good, responsible, and committed driver; and another point of this annual competition is to drive these values into our drivers,” said Mats Nilsson, Managing Director of Volvo Malaysia.
“Truck drivers are the backbone of the economy and as a leading truck manufacturer globally and in Malaysia, Volvo seeks to continue inspiring this change in drivers’ behaviour. We hope that our message, through our annual Fuelwatch Challenge, will continue to resonate with all Malaysian drivers, fleet operators and relevant authorities,” Nilsson said.
“On a related note, we truly welcome the Government’s recent announcement to introduce Euro 5 in a bid to have cleaner fuels on Malaysian roads, as well as the support already expressed by several petroleum companies. This is a positive move by the government to preserve the environment, it corresponds so closely with Volvo’s environmental care core value and we fully support it,” added Nilsson.
Guest-of-honour at the dinner, Encik Mohd Yusop bin Mohamad, Assistant Director of Automotive Engineering Division, Road Transport Department (JPJ), Malaysia Ministry of Transport (MOT), once again lent his support to Volvo and commended the company on the success of its annual Fuelwatch Challenge and its wide reach among Malaysian truck drivers.
“One of the key challenges for the transportation and logistics industry today is the rise in fuel costs. And overall, threats to the environment posed by excessive carbon emission is another issue we are grappling with these days. As such, on behalf of JPJ, I am glad to see private companies like Volvo Trucks seriously taking a responsibility to help improve the situation for industry, environment and communities by contributing to fuel efficient and safe driving behaviour,” said Encik Mohd Yusop.
He further added, “I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the winner of this year’s Fuelwatch Challenge who will also take on the role of Fuelwatch Ambassador 2016. I wish him the very best for the Asia Finals in Thailand in September. Do make Malaysia proud!”
