RIYADH, 26 July 2005 — With the Umrah traffic snowballing, the Saudi Public Transport Company (SAPTCO) has announced that it will receive next month a second shipment of 150 Mercedes-Benz coaches as part of its expansion plan to strengthen its fleet in Riyadh, Makkah, Medina and other cities.
A spokesman of SAPTCO told Arab News that the vehicles, with the O 500 M chassis, would be equipped with bodies produced by Marcopolo.
This will be the second shipment of buses arriving from Brazil. The spokesman said SAPTCO has placed orders for 450 vehicles. Of these, the first batch of 100 buses arrived in May, while the second and third batches of 100 units each are expected in August and December, respectively.
Last year, SAPTCO had signed a contract for the purchase of 150 units, as part of the 450-strong fleet to by supplied by Al-Juffali & Bros, agent for Mercedes-Benz in the Kingdom.
The spokesman said that since 2002, they have procured over 900 vehicles of the same model. The new vehicles are equipped with the latest foldable LCDs, Euro-3 environment-friendly engines and toilets for the convenience of long-haul passengers.
Overall, SAPTCO has a fleet strength of 3,000 buses. It decision to augment its fleet should be seen against the Kingdom’s opening up the Umrah market, when an estimated 2.5 million to 2.7 million Umrah pilgrims are expected this season. “There was a nearly 70 percent increase in Umrah traffic during the mid-June to mid-August vacation period last year. Looking at the trend, one can expect a fairly large increase during Ramadan,” the spokesman said.
In a related development, Christian Gerber, commercial vehicle foreign sales manager, said in a statement: “We are further increasing our business with the Middle East, proving the perfect adaptation of the Mercedes-Benz chassis produced in Brazil.” He added that Mercedes has also done business with Tamimi & Saihati Transport Corporation (Taseco). Mercedes Brazil has an active sales growth in the Arab market. Up to September a total of 514 urban and highway buses with bodies produced by Comil will be shipped to Mowasalat, the largest public transport company in Qatar. The first load of 165 units was shipped on July 04.
Apart from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Mercedes Brazil is also a major exporter of vehicles to other countries in the region, like Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, the UAE, Morocco, Algeria, Jordan and Tunisia.