Scania trucks safely moving gas on Spanish islands
4 JANUARY 2021
The transport company Trans Dóniz recently landed four new Scania P 450 on the Spanish island of Tenerife, optimised for transporting butane gas canisters in a challenging topography.
The trucks have the latest safety equipment needed to transport combustibles on the Canary islands, such as antilock brakes, traction control and spark arrestor. The company moves the delicate cargo from the production plant, near Gibraltar on the Spanish peninsula, all the way to their warehouse in Tenerife and subsequently further on to sales points on all the Canary Islands.
Safe and rapid end-to-end distribution
Trans Dóniz’s fleet consists of 46 trucks of which 19 are Scania. Add then 14 specially-designed platform trailers and you can ensure safe and rapid end-to-end distribution of the countless 12.5-kilo gas ‘bombonas’ in circulation.
Butane gas distribution is critical for local households and businesses. A Spanish household annually normally consumes 1.9 of these typical orange gas canisters, whereas the islanders on average buy 3.1 canisters. In 2019, over 13 million tourists visited Spain’s outpost in the Atlantic, making this butane market significant.
“The special platform trailers are loaded onto the ferry by our drivers in the port of Cádiz on the Spanish Atlantic coast. When the ferry arrives, our island crew collects them with our Scania tractors for further distribution. But sometimes there can be trouble with the timetable,” says technician Alexis Dóniz Garcia.
“We are happy with the good relations we have with the local Scania dealer”
The dependency on 40-hour long maritime transport is part of the island life. But it also occasionally puts a strain on the distribution chain and could cause a disturbing energy shortage, should the boat not arrive on schedule. However, most of the time the ferries arrive on time and on the dock a group of capable drivers stand ready with safe and efficient truck and trailer combinations to complete the task.
“Scania stands out in many ways and we are really happy with how the trucks perform and with the good relations we have with the local Scania dealer,” says Dóniz Garcia.
