Interway has successfully operated a transportation business in the commercial and industrial centre of Malaysia for more than 40 years, covering all the major routes in Peninsular Malaysia.

Over the past year, the Company has for the first time added six new Steelbro sidelifters to its extensive fleet of haulage equipment, and is seeing some impressive results.

The one-stop logistics provider offers a wide range of logistics related services including the transportation of goods in container, freight-forwarding services, warehousing facilities, and shifting and positioning of industrial equipment. A forwarding and warehousing division also offers a complete package ranging from specialised packing to the handling of Custom procedures, air and sea freight formalities.

Interway’s impressive fleet of haulage trucks includes some 300 prime movers, over 1500 trailers, more than 100 specialised haulage trucks,  39 bulk tankers, as well as sidelifters.

When it comes to sidelifters, Interway made the decision in 2020 to partner with sidelifter manufacturer Steelbro.

According to Interway Director Mr. Cheok  , “Managing a fleet of heavy equipment of this size is a massive undertaking and requires all vehicles and heavy lifting machinery to be well maintained and in optimum working condition.

“And this means, essentially, choosing the right equipment is critical for us.

“Our truck fleet maintenance plan is all about preventing downtime and lengthening the lifespan of our equipment. This helps us not only maximise the return on investment on all our valuable assets, but ensures we provide the best service possible for our customers.”

“These customers include multi-national companies and large government agencies and we’re pleased that we’ve managed to earn a reputation for being reliable, efficient and giving them ‘value for money’ services.

Once the decision to invest with Steelbro was made, Interway took delivery of the six new SB450 sidelifters across 2020 and 2021.  Five units were put to work straight away on the pick-up and delivery of shipments to and from the port in Port Klang and one was set to work in Penang.   These units have shifted all types of loads from 20’, 40’, tanktainers and flat racks.

According to Steelbro, the SB450 is built to handle the most challenging working environments.  A rugged sidelifter unit with a strong lifting capacity, transfers of containers weighing up to 45 tonnes can be made easily within a safe working envelope.  Designers at Steelbro developed the SB450 unit to be able to work under the most extreme of conditions.  In Malaysia the environment and conditions call for a more rugged unit and the SB450 is often considered the best possible unit for the job.

Mr. Cheok describes the SB450 as the “famous 45 tonne sidelifter in Malaysia.”

“We decided to choose a Steelbro unit because of the price, technical specifications, lifting capacity, and longevity,” says Mr. Cheok.

“They also come with lots of additional benefits for all types of operation.

“Staging and trailer transfers are made easy.  And we can lift two 20ft containers and we can double stack containers.

“The sidelifter operators at Interway are huge fans of the new units as well”, says Mr. Cheok. “One operator described the Steelbro SB450 as ‘Safe to use, simple to maintain and runs longer without much downtime.  The Steelbro units also let you place your heavy loads precisely in tight spaces.’”

Mr. Cheok has also been impressed with the Malaysian based Steelbro aftersales servicing operation,  “We’ve enjoyed excellent service that’s always been fast, efficient, and reliable.”

First published in Asian Trucker Issue 62