Indian fleets honoured at Apollo awards ceremony
On 23 January Apollo Tyres held its inaugural Apollo Fleet of the Year awards. With the awards, the tyre maker’s aim was to acknowledge the importance of safety, technology, sustainability and customer service initiatives to fleet operators in India. Taking away the large operator award was VRL Logistics, while Sangha Freight Carrier secured the honour in the medium operator category. The two top winners and other awardees were selected from more than 5,140 entries received from fleet operators across India.
Speaking on the occasion Satish Sharma, chief, India Operations, Apollo Tyres Ltd said: “These awards are Apollo’s recognition of the best practices that exist within the Indian commercial transportation segment. It is a much more progressive and modern sector of the economy than it gets recognition for. We have found that a vast majority of the operators conduct safety trainings for their drivers, fitters, mechanics and employees, resulting in lesser road accidents. The other surprising area was the high value put on GPS usage, technology deployment and fuel saving. I think we are literally witnessing a silent revolution in this segment, and fleet operators – large or small – should be lauded for it.”
Awards were given for large fleets operating more than 50 vehicles, medium fleets of between 10 and 50 vehicles and small fleets of less than 10 vehicles. Honours within the two larger size categories included the main ‘Apollo Fleet of the Year’ award plus Leadership in Customer Service, Leadership in Sustainability and Technology, Leadership in Safety and Leadership in Operations awards. Small operators were acknowledged by regional awards, and a Leadership in Operations award was also bestowed upon a private passenger carrier, SRS Travels.
“Seventy per cent of the goods transported in India are by road, making it the lifeline of the economy where millions of people and businesses rely on these fleets, and the quality of the nominations and the enthusiasm shown by the nominees show that the sector is truly in good hands,” Satish Sharma added. “We are in the process of collating and creating small, and easy to understand, case studies of some of the best fleet operators. We intend to share these with the industry at large to enable others to follow some of the best practices already in place.”
The winners were decided by an independent jury based upon a quantitative and qualitative evaluation carried out by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India.
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