mj3200:
I have been wading my way through this thread with great interest. I worked in Riyadh for 4 years. Not as a driver. I am in construction. I was there from 2011 - 15.I’ve always been into trucks and transport generally and was trained on my PSV for London Transport in '86 by a guy who used to drive out to - I’m sure he said India in the '60s; definitely Iran - Poland and all these places.
I knew that in the 70’s guys drove to the Middle East but I had no idea they made it as far as Jeddah and stayed! That brings me to something I’m very curious about. When were the last British drivers there and what stopped that? Now there are virtually zero of even the Filipinos. Everyone seems to be Pakistani / Bangla as far as driving is concerned. As you can all imagine of course there are no Saudis behind the wheel!
I worked with a guy called Mohammad Tamimi at the National Water Company in Riyadh. He was a super friendly guy who had been US educated and like so many Saudi guys like him if you spoke to him on the phone you would automatically think you were chatting to an American… He was the son of some type of minor prince and his family’s business was Tamimi Transport. A huge company - the family were of course minted - I am supposing it’s the one some of you fellas are referring to. I remember asking him why there were no Filipino drivers and he told me that they were considered too unreliable compared to the Pakistani and Bangladeshi, so as their visas had expired they were not replaced.
Almost all of Tamimi’s tractors were Mercedes now or MAN. as was the case for almost all firms as far as I could see. I asked about this and he said it was the perception that they were the most reliable now and “what about Scania or whatever?” he said the mechanics were used to Mercedes. Infact I had expected to see tons of American trucks and with the exception of some Peterbilt refuse trucks I think I saw less than 10 although holy of holys one was a Marmon on the hill going back into Riyadh on the 505 from Dirab. Just before the city check point; speaking of which those are all unmanned now except for occasional checks mainly of trucks.
Another thing I have been enjoying is the old pictures, not only of the trucks, of KSA back in the day. It’s such an evolving place and people have so little regard for the past that you rarely see the older Riyadh and Jeddah. Although we all know if you want cred with the locals its Jidda
Can anyone tell me if the Al Khozama hotel on Olaya was there in your time and where is the flyover junction a few posts back?
Thanks,
Willy
Willy - hello
I will try and answer some of your questions.
I set up Trans Arabia in 1976 and ran it until Jan1982.
Why the move to Pakistani and Bangladesh drivers - simple - cost - they cost much less than Philipino people. Trans Arabia moved from Brits to Philipino purely because of cost - 3 Philo for 1 Brit plus the Brits had holiday every 12 weeks the Philipino 4 weeks after 12 months - so all that adds up. Our/my choice of Philo was there knowledge of English and familiarity of American trucks. Along the way we picked up a Brit/Yemeni from Birmingham - good for Mecca deliveries. We also employed a very good Tanzanian driver who walked through the door so as to speak.
I looked at many nationalities inc Indonesian and Thai drivers but they had no knowledge of American trucks and lack of long distance work and poor language skills.
When I arrived in Jeddah in 1976 there were a fair number of Brits hanging around looking for local work after they had done the overland trip, mostly lining there own pockets - some even sold there trucks and flew home to return with another truck many months later. Some had got involved in accidents and had caused major issues for the British Embassy, hence the cold shoulder we received until some years later when we’re involved with an International school move, they then changed there attitude and were extremely useful when I needed a visa to get an injured Philipino who had had his leg amputated and I want treatment in the UK for him - S Jones stood as garrantor for him!!
Most overland Brits disappeared when the sea freight service improved and the queuing at Jeddah port disappeared- when I arrived in 76 their was a 12 weeks que outside the port - hence some container ships being offloaded onto barges with they own ships cranes!!!
The prevalence of Mercedes trucks (The Bonneted Version) went back many many years in most of the Middle East as Mercedes Germany had supplied thousand of Merc Tipper truck, ridgids and articS - most American trucks were on the oil fields with the American companies.
S Jones misjudged the equipment we required - easy with hindsight - they hadn’t taken into account the weights that were being pulled - we should have had 6 x 4 units not 4 x 2. The Macks we bought should have had ■■■■■■■ engines as did the Kenworths did have when purchased - again that decision was made on cost - the Kenworths was £10,000 cheaper than the ERF, purely down to exchange rate!!
In 76 there were no weight regulations for the roads!! Today they have regulation and the gross weights have been much reduced
Hope this answers some of your questions
Regards
Ken b