A Hino 15-258 500 Series heavy truck, dating back to 2007, which has already covered more than a million kilometres, has begun a new lease in its working life after being sold out of the KwaZulu-Natal-based CPS Seedlings fleet to a Mr Singh to use for collecting and delivering stock for his grocery business in the Midlands area. It has already paid a visit to its previous home where the new owner expressed satisfaction with his purchase.
The truck has been trouble-free over the past 18 years having been regularly serviced and maintained by Hino Pietermaritzburg in its early days, but subsequently the CPS Seedlings account has moved to Hino Pinetown.
“This Hino has pulled a pup trailer for at least half its million kilometres in CPS Seedlings’ service,” explained Julian Chaning-Pearce, Managing Director of the Greytown branch of CPS Seedlings. (His brother, Adrian, looks after the Pongola operation). “Average fuel consumption has been around 25 l/100 km without the trailer and 31 l/100 km when towing the pup.”
The CPS Seedlings fleet consists currently of 13 commercial vehicles based in Greytown, with 12 of them Hino’s from 2-12 ton, while at the Pongola branch there are a further four commercial vehicles, of which two are Hino’s. In addition, the fleet operates 14 Toyota light commercials.
“When asked if he would buy another Hino truck he answered, “They are on order all the time!”
“I can honestly say that transport is the least of our worries when running our business,” concluded Chaning-Pearse.
CPS Seedlings was founded in 1985 by Mark Chaning-Pearce, operating in Cato Ridge as a one-person business with one bakkie. The company has now reached its fourth generation of the Chaning-Pearse family. Its current delivery fleet covers a combined one million kilometres annually, while the company has produced and delivered more than 1.8 billion plants in the past 40 years.
CPS Seedlings is a leading wholesaler of vegetable and forestry seedlings to the commercial farming sector, as well as supplying growing mediums such as vermiculite, Perlite, coir, and peat moss to other commercial nurseries across the country. In recent years, the company has branched out into agriculture and now also farms sugar and citrus at its Pongola Farming operations.
