The Belarusian automobile engineering company BelAZ is one of the world's three main manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks. It is one of the flagship companies in Belarus, which is always under close attention of the state. About 95% of products is exported. Belarusian haul trucks work in dozens of countries in a variety of conditions, with temperatures ranging from -50°C to +50°C. It was BelAZ that had designed a supergiant truck with the carrying capacity of 450 tonnes that was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records. But this is not the limit for the plant. Unmanned and electric haul trucks, mining vehicles running on gas fuel... BelAZ keeps an eye on the trends and is gearing up for any new developments on the market in the future. BelTA journalists visited the company to learn more about new products and ambitious plans.
How to win the competition?
BelAZ is a city within the city, with buildings, streets and public transport. The company employs about 10,000 professionals. Every local family has a member working for the company. It is here that the new models of vehicles are designed to work in the mining industry around the world.
The plant has been holding from 20% to 30% of the global market for mining vehicles with the carrying capacity of 90 tonnes and above for the last 10 years. “We seek to keep our market foothold, firstly, and, secondly, to constantly increase our share. Of course, our main market is Russia and other CIS countries, but we want to increase our share in other countries to 30%. Especially now that the CIS market has been shrinking while the markets in countries such as Australia, Chile, Peru, and Indonesia have been expanding. This is why we are concentrating on these markets now," said Konstantin Ryltsov, Deputy General Director for Marketing and Export Policy at BelAZ.
The main competitors of the Belarusian manufacturer are the Japanese company Komatsu and the U.S. company Caterpillar. They are much larger in terms of the output but mining vehicles are not their main line of business while they are ours. We offer the widest choice in terms of carrying capacity - from 30 tonnes to 450 tonnes. “I must say that no one else produces a 450-tonner. In addition, we are flexible in terms of options. We offer the widest choice of engines, propulsion systems, drives from the world's leading manufacturers,” Konstantin Ryltsov said. “Our pricing policy is also competitive. In some carrying capacity classes, our vehicles win the quality to price ratio. The cost of spare parts is also attractive and so is maintenance,” he said.
Thanks to this, BelAZ's share in the 130t carrying capacity segment is above 70% on the global market, and that in the 220t class exceeds 50%. The competitors mainly sell 90t trucks. BelAZ has been gradually increasing its global market share in this segment as well. “Our priority task is to win at least 20% of this market. Our positions will further strengthen, and I think our total share on the haul truck market may exceed 30%,” Konstantin Ryltsov said.
BelAZ is creative in promoting its products and finding new customers. Any market has its own features. There is a separate strategy for each. First of all, the company is looking for a local partner with stable connections in the mining industry, which could both sell vehicles and provide maintenance services. Equipment testing programs are worked out for some markets. Certain countries require non-standard methods such as outsourcing. The partner or dealer in this region undertakes to perform the full range of mining and construction works. For example, this is the way BelAZ is working on the South African market.
From Asia to South America
BelAZ is particularly interested in Latin America. The region has its peculiarities that require adjustments in the vehicles. Last year, the plant resumed shipments to Chile. “This will help us demonstrate how our vehicles work on this specific market. We will invite consumers not only from Chile but also from other countries of the region that we are most interested in - Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador,” the deputy director general said.
As for the Asian region, BelAZ has made notable progress in India. The plant won a tender to supply 77 trucks with the carrying capacity of 136 tonnes. The second tender for 96 trucks (220t) is entering homestretch. These are big contracts worth over $250 million. BelAZ aftersales service centers will operate in India as well.
For the last five years Indonesia has consistently been one of the top three largest markets for mining equipment. BelAZ does its best not to miss out on such a promising opportunity. Over the past four years, BelAZ has shipped more than 50 vehicles with a carrying capacity of 110-130t there. According to Konstantin Ryltsov, there is fierce competition. “Komatsu plants also operate there and they dominate the market. But we are starting to edge them out. Our vehicles have a good reputation and we expect to receive new orders,” he added.
Last year, Belarusian haul trucks with the carrying capacity of 130 tonnes made their debut on the Vietnamese market, becoming the first haul trucks with such a capacity there. This step has yielded good results, and BelAZ sees many prospects for operation in this country. Besides, in 2020 the company plans to export 40-50 trucks with the carrying capacity of 110-130 tonnes to Mongolia. BelAZ is also looking into shipping larger trucks with the capacity of 220 tonnes.
The company has recently executed a contract worth over $250 million with Uzbekistan. “We carried out a five-year program to upgrade the fleet of mining vehicles at Uzbekistani enterprises in just two years. Of course, this was an important project for us,” Konstantin Ryltsov stressed.
Interesting new products
The ever-changing demand in the market prompts changes in mining vehicles. Cost saving, eco-friendliness, improvement of labor safety in quarries – new hauls trucks are meant to solve a lot of tasks and be effective and reliable.
BelAZ is working on gas-powered mining vehicles that run on gas diesel or pure gas. “We have the experience of re-equipping 130-tonne haul trucks in Russia's Murmansk Oblast. Work is underway not to re-equip, but to produce such trucks at our enterprise,” Head of the BelAZ Assembly Department Aleksandr Naskovets said. “Moreover, we have produced two 45-tonne haul trucks that run solely on gas. A 90-tonne haul truck with a turboshaft engine is also in the works,” he added.
The company has been working on robotization for many years. BelAZ sold the first few unmanned 130-tonne haul trucks to Russia's Siberian Coal Energy Company SUEK. They are undergoing tests in Russia's Khakassia. “There were other customers interested in our robots. But due to a decline in the Russian market, we have postponed those supplies. Nevertheless, the potential interest remains,” Konstantin Ryltsov noted.
In 2020, BelAZ intends to demonstrate its robotic complex in Mikashevichi, Belarus. The company plans to send there a 90-tonne haul truck and a remotely operated loader.
Another interesting direction is electric dump trucks. BelAZ has designed a diesel trolleytruck, an electric trolleytruck, and an electric dump truck. The diesel trolleytruck and the electric trolleytruck use a certain amount of external electricity fed by trolley lines. “There is a very serious demand for trolleytrucks right now,” the deputy director general assured. “I think this year, even in H1 2020, we will make these models. There are customers both in Russia and in Mongolia, who are ready to take them.”
Instead of a diesel generator electric dump trucks use traction batteries as a source of energy for motion. “It will allow mining companies to save money due to differences in prices for fuel and for electricity. If we talk about Yakutia, which boasts Russia's largest difference between the fuel price and the electricity price, such a haul truck can save up to $3 million over the course of ten years of operation,” Aleksandr Naskovets shared his calculations. BelAZ is designing such an electric dump truck, selecting the necessary components.
Distant future
We asked BelAZ specialists what they think about the world market in the future, what directions the company will explore in order to keep up with competitors. All of them mentioned digitization and robotization. “Future definitely belongs to computerization, automation, and the reduction of the human factor. Apart from that, all the countries are raising environmental requirements, requirements for engines. The reduction of vehicle emissions is of great importance,” BelAZ specialists are convinced.
Aleksandr Naskovets also theorized that haul trucks are not going to use diesel fuel in about 15 years. “I think our BelAZ trucks will be totally different then. But taking into account digitization and the fourth industrial revolution it is difficult to guesstimate even what things will be like in five years. More and more electronics is being introduced into the design of haul trucks to make the driver's job easier, to increase performance, and save money. We need to constantly do better,” he stressed.
BelAZ also sees the trend in favor of trucks with a larger carrying capacity. Even 90-tonne trucks may be considered small in the future. “Our record of 450 tonnes is not the limit anymore. Trucks that can carry more than that are under consideration. But there are technical limitations: manufacturers have yet to come up with tires able to bear such a load. But they are already seriously working on it,” Konstantin Ryltsov pointed out.
According to the latest estimates of specialists, it is possible to design a haul truck with the carrying capacity of 560 tonnes. But it will be possible in a distant future for now.
Photos by Oksana Manchuk
