Iveco Astra has delivered a fleet of 131 special vehicles to Algeria’s Entreprise Nationale Geophysique (Enageo), the seismic exploration arm of state-owned extractive industries conglomerate, Sonatrach.
The fleet comprises a range of 4×4 and 6×6 (all-wheel-drive) vehicles tailored for logistics and support work on extremely rugged terrain in adverse conditions, using the HD9 heavy-duty truck as a base.
Special features developed specifically for the application include reinforced leaf springs at the front, ADR-certified systems for transporting hazardous materials, the Steyr 2000 transfer unit, enlarged tanks, and special desert tyres to handle long and uneven tracks.
The custom order, secured only at the end of last year, has subsequently been designed and built in a record time for a public tender from the Algerian government.
The various configurations and versions of the HD9-based vehicles included units equipped with fuel and water tanks, for people transport, and as tractors and refrigerated vehicles.
As a base, the Astra HD9 sets itself apart with its wide 820mm-wide chassis cast in 530MPa steel, with 320mm by 90mm by 10mm C-sections that yield a bending moment of 200,000Nm, even without additional reinforcement.
This inherent robustness has been complemented by an equally robust drivelines, as well as a simplified electronic architecture, to grant reliability in the most challenging off-road applications, according to the manufacturer.
Enageo is based in Algeria, but maintains operations across Mali, Libya, Nigeria, Egypt, Latin America, the USA and Europe.
