A photo of a truck whose tipper bucket had been slanted to carry less load recently elicited a huge debate. Many people who saw the photo were of the opinion that the truck was in fraud business.
However, entrepreneur Caroline Gikunda who is in the transportation business has come out to offer a different opinion. According to Caroline that the tipper had been readjusted to carry less load is not necessarily fraud. Why is this? Here’s Caroline’s explanation:
“On behalf of Transporters this is NOT necessarily fraud.
A regular 10 wheeler tipper has a body capacity of approximately 25 tonnes loaded full.
KenHA allows the 3 axles a capacity load of 16 tonnes ONLY
Unless there’s a weighbridge nearby to weigh the load from the source, it’s difficult to approximate the 16 tonnes.
The fines, penalties and road side settlements for overloading are not friendly at all…!!
Therefore no transporter wants to exceed the allowed tonnage by even a single tonne.
We therefore either
1. Have a mark on the tipper’s body up to what point we load …or
2. Have reduced the body of the truck by cutting it off permanently from the top.
This is a big disadvantage if you will need to ferry a low density load like makuti.
3. Reducing the tipper’s body from below through a sheet as seen in the pictures.
If one is ferrying a high density load like ballast or river sand, the sheet remains. If the truck is ferrying low density load like makuti or manure for garden soil, the sheet is removed to allow for more volume.
All the transporter needs to do is to communicate the tonnage and make sure that they are delivering the correct tonnage they have been paid for.
My family disowned me at age 17 – Martha Wanjiru who waived tenants’ rent
Most client expect the truck to be full but it’s not possible as the body capacity is approximately 25 tonnes yet we allowed a tare weight load of only 16tonnes.
