Retail giant Shoprite has acquired 100 Euro V trucks from Scania Southern Africa, with another 140 units to be delivered by the end of next year.

The Euro-scale refers to the level of tailpipe emissions from a vehicle, with Euro V much cleaner than Euro II, which is the current South African truck-emission standard set by government.

In addition, higher Euro-specification vehicles also typically offer significant fuel savings.

These trucks do, however, also require clean diesel, which has become more readily available in South Africa in recent years.

Scania Southern Africa Services GM Mark Erasmus says the local arm of the Swedish truck maker conducted 45 one-month tests with a number of customers with varied needs in the local market before formally introducing the vehicle in South Africa.

In each of these tests, the Euro V trucks proved to be more fuel efficient than the customers’ existing trucks by up to 10%, or more, which is significant, considering current diesel prices – as well as Shoprite’s operational footprint.

The group’s fleet currently includes 903 trucks and 1 360 trailers, of which 928 are fitted with solar panels.

During the 2020/21 financial year, Shoprite’s fleet travelled close to 90-million kilometres, delivering more than 350-million cases of products to its stores.

“Operational and supply chain efficiency play a critical role in ensuring that the group remains Africa’s most affordable and accessible retailer, while reducing our environmental impact,” says Shoprite chief supply chain officer Andrew Havinga.

“We are relentless in our efforts to improve efficiencies in our supply chain, as these measures are key to extending our customers’ spending abilities.”

These efforts include changing to more fuel-efficient trucks and installing solar panels on truck trailers, as these trucks can be switched off while the refrigeration function and tailgate lift run on solar power.

“By further increasing the energy efficiency of our trucks and training our drivers on how to reduce fuel consumption, we are able to lower the comparative impact of the distance our fleet travels every year,” notes Havinga.

“Scania is committed to developing sustainable transport solutions, and we are delighted to see how aligned Shoprite is to our own sustainability objectives,” says Scania Southern Africa MD Erik Bergvall.

Scania’s future product pipeline includes developments around hydrogen fuel cell and electric trucks.