The Nigerian Government despite economic recession has the objective of using the automotive policy to enhance local production of vehicles.
Part of the gains of the policy is being recorded at the Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company (ANAMMCO) Limited, which recently resumed full production and assembling of a wide range of Shacman trucks, particularly for the Nigerian roads at its plant in Enugu, Enugu State.
Following the latest developments, automobile industry analysts have opined that the upsurge in production activities for locally made vehicles is a boost to the Nigerian auto policy {also called the Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP).
So far, no fewer than 50 heavy duty trucks are assembled every week at the plant located at the Emene Industrial Layout following a manufacturing agreement between Transit Support Services Limited {TSS}, a subsidiary of ABC Transport, and ANAMMCO, to utilise the assembly facility.
TSS is the official representative of Shacman, a Chinese brand, in Nigeria
It was learnt that with the return of increased production at the plant, majority of the technical staff who were kept on standby while skeletal operation lasted, have since been recalled, even as a number of the local content suppliers have been engaged to provide some of the needed components and accessories.
Confirming the rate of production, Managing Director of TSS, Mr. Frank Nneji disclosed that many truck buyers, especially big corporate users like construction companies, haulage and logistics firms and cement manufacturers, have realised that Shacman has an edge over competitors in terms of price-quality comparison.
“Shacman is the best truck brand from the Chinese auto industry. That is what many of the companies that used the trucks and trailer heads are coming back to us with large orders, with the result that the ANAMMCO plant is bursting again”, Nneji stressed.
Nneji described Shacman trucks as very strong and highly dependable vehicles, disclosing that the technology was originally MAN Diesel.
With an installed capacity of about 7, 500 trucks per annum {in a single shift} at the time of commissioning the plant in 1980, ANAMMCO dominated the truck and bus market for many years until an interplay of unfavourable factors led to a dip in its fortunes, and subsequent privatisation in 2007.
However, as the automotive policy formally took effect on July 1, 2014, having been approved the year before by the Federal Executive Council, industry watchers were optimistic that it would not take long before normal production would return to ANAMMCO.
It was therefore no surprise that encouraged by the policy, TSS commenced the production of Shacman at ANAMMCO, leading to the roll-out of the first batch of the heavy duty trucks and trailer heads in 2014.
It was gathered that the volume of production had continued to rise gradually till a few months ago when orders for hundreds of Shacman trucks were placed by a couple of big corporate customers that opted for Shacman after a comparative analysis of various products from competing brands.
A team of visiting journalists who visited the plant recently observed that hundreds of the trucks were being branded at ANAMMCO premises with some of them bearing the name and logo of the Dangote Group.
