On 18 November, a delegation from Chinese engine major Weichai Group headed by Chairman of the Board Tan Xuguang visited mining truck major BELAZ in Zhodino, Belarus. The visit also saw the signing of a “memorandum of strategic partnership and cooperation.” During the visit, Tan Xuguang was offered a test-drive on a BELAZ 75589 mining dump truck with payload capacity of 90 t equipped with an AC electromechanical transmission and powered by a Weichai engine.
BELAZ General Director Petr Parkhomchik told Belarussian media that it was one dump truck so far. “In case of positive solution and confirmation of all the technical characteristics there will be effected one more order for 12 units of dump trucks of such payload capacity. We have a lot to overcome and we will manage that.” The Chinese company says it is also ready to supply more powerful engines for BELAZ mining dump trucks with payload capacity of 45, 90, 130 and 240 t.
The companies said that the cooperation reflects the increasing BELAZ presence in the Asian market and also helping to increase the competitiveness of BELAZ mining equipment in this region. “Belarus is a country we [have wanted] to cooperate with for a long time…and now we have a great background for cooperation. We are very glad that we have such an opportunity to produce engines for OJSC BELAZ. This is definitely a new level. We’ve manufactured the engine for [the] 90 t dump truck that in addition to the basic functions saves fuel as well. We hope that there will appear even more possibilities for supplies of the Belarussian machinery to China,” the representative of Weichai Yang Gensheng remarked.