What started in the early 70s as a customs clearance agent has since grown into a business that offers a comprehensive service. Coming to their aid are two new MAN TGS that Andy How Managing Director of Nakhoda Transport Sdn Bhd, along with his Director Vanessa Lim, Head of Transport Hansen Teh & Snr. Manager Chin Song An picked up from the Port Klang workshop of the German brand on December 2nd.

In 2012, How added own trucks to their business. “In the beginning, we contracted the service of other transporters. However, we felt that we were not getting the best service from companies that grew rapidly. Our business may not have been big enough for them.” While the permits were in place earlier, it was only in that year that Nakhoda purchased their first trucks. Since then, the fleet has grown to 19, including the newly acquired MANs.

Currently also deploying other European brands, How said that he likes to experiment. “Our experience with European trucks is very good and we are giving MAN a try to better evaluate them. Pricing played a role, but what convinced us were the numbers of MAN trucks on the road.” Convinced that other players would only trust good brands, he looked at his peers and the MAN trucks plying the roads in Port Klang were the best testimonial to their strength.

Reliability is a key issue for Nakhoda. One of the issues that How mentioned is the difficulty in finding staff that is dependable and takes responsibility. “We do not want to grow the business by way of adding volume. The risk is that we do not give good service to our clients and we rather have fewer clients but serve them really well.” Being a new customer, this was his first time to be in touch with the staff at the Port Klang workshop. He praised the professionalism, saying that the hand-over was already something special that he would remember for a long time.