Thursday, September 29, 2011

Actros lands in Halifax

1. Rare as hens' teeth in North America, the Mercedes-Benz Actros prime mover and multi-axle trailer makes a brief foray onto this edge of the continent.


2. Fitted out with all the gear, it is an impressive rig by any standard, but won't be seen on any Canadian roads.



Favoured around the world as the truck of choice for many industries -notably heavy hauling- the Mercedes-Benz Actros has been in production since the mid-1990s. In that time it has been in service everywhere but North America! Never marketed in Canada or the US (Daimler produces under different brands names here) sightings are therefore rare and wondrous!


Halifax is one of the few places in Canada you are likely to see one, because it is one of the only ports in this country where Roll-On Roll-Off ships call from overseas.


German heavy hauler Fahrenholz ( http://fahrenholz-kran.de/ ) showed off one of their Actros today on the Halifax waterfront after rolling off a heavy lift earlier in the week. The truck will likely return to Germany on the next east bound ship, but did make a brief excursion out of the terminal to the parking lot to allow for a transfer, which I believe was a Cat 3900L . Why this Cat should have needed such a massive trailer I can't imagine, but it is here anyway.


Update in fact the truck may have been sued for a quite different process - it may have been used to move one of the container cranes in the pier area.

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4 comments:

  1. How cool is that! Great catch, would have loved to see this one myself.

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  2. Have you ever seen the military version of these trucks, the AHSVS? Maybe in Halifax for sea shipment to Afghanistan? Or anywhere in Canada for that matter. Apparently CF has had them since 2007. Or have they spent their whole life in Afghanistan?

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  3. Certainly haven't seen any here. I usually take notice of military trucks and there's quite a few different types, but the only Mercedes ones I've seen have been the G-Wagen based SUVs.

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  4. It is certainly an imposing vehicle, If you had seen it on the street, you would remember, it would be turning heads.
    Or park it in your driveway to one-up your neighbor with a Hummer. Check it out on youtube, if you haven't seen it.

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=djzRWIhiD00

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