The Indians are back, the Kazakhstans will depart soon
Published on 05.12.2010 - Arctic Trucks Expeditions 2010
This Arctic Trucks company has a lot to do in the Antarctic this season. The first expedition (the Indians) was a great success. Now it's the turn of the Kazsakhstan researchers to go on the ice and drive towards the South Pole aswell.
The Indian expedition from Novolazarevskaia to South Pole and back is now back in Novo : only one vehicle had a rare axle problem but the support team who travelled with the Indians could fixe it in no time. From the expedition blog : "Yesterday around 5 o‘clock, the rare axle in Gísli Karels car broke! We did not have the necessary spare parts to replace the rear axle and therefore this was a major problem. And we are still 370 kilometres from Novo! Our only option was to take one axle from the trailer and install in the car. When building the trailer we used the same components in the trailer as were used in the cars, in order to be able to use them as emergency spare parts for the cars. And this definitely paid off now! Now – almost 24 hours later – we are back on the track. All the four cars are working but we had to leave the trailer behind. We will return to pick up the trailer in a few days’ time, as soon as we have picked up the necessary spare parts in Novo. ..."
It took only seven days for the first Arctic Trucks expedition (The Indian National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research/NCAOR) to drive from South Pole to Novo with the fixing of the rare axle en route.
These days, the next Arctic Trucks expedition (the Kazakhstan National Geographic Society) is already in Novo, they arrived few days ago by plane from Cape Town. Arctic Trucks team is busy reparing the vehicles and trailers that just came back from South Pole.
In the mean time, the NDLO (Norwegian Defence Logistic Organisation) and the FMV (Swedish Materiel Administration) have signed a major four years framework agreement (with extension possibility up to ten years) for procurement of light commercial vehicles with Arctic Trucks, Norway. "We are extremely proud to win this tender” says Örn Thomsen, Managing Director of Arctic Trucks Norway. “The market for this kind of solutions is extremely competitive and to have these two countries signing a landmark agreement with Arctic Trucks is a major milestone. Our flexibility and the possibility of our operation to adapt to the customer request is our major strength. We are ready, motivated and take pride in providing them with outstanding solutions ensuring the customers satisfaction. We build on over 20 years of experience of improving 4x4 vehicles for the most severe conditions around the world being in the hottest desert or in the Arctic’s. We have been providing vehicles with enhanced off-road capabilities to Peace Corps since 2003 which have a proven track record with lower maintenance costs and extended lifetime in Afghanistan and other demanding areas.”
