The rift between UNBS and Trade Minister Kahinda Otafiire apart, the pre-shipment inspection (PSI) requirement for imported used vehicles will not add much value nor save us buying junk in the name of vehicles. This is because the inspection does not and cannot address the core factors in determining vehicles appropriate for the Uganda market, namely “tropicalisation”.
Tropicalisation sums up all those aspects, innovations and processes that make a vehicle appropriate for the tropics, where Uganda falls. It can be either at concept and eventually engineering level, with in-built designs or it can be post-engineering, whereby simple mechanical modifications are made to key components to make the vehicle tropical-compliant.
These include, inter alia: The suspension system, mainly springs and shock absorbers, whereby a system conceived, designed and engineered for Japanese or other developed country roads will not function properly on our roads here.
The brake-system, notably brake-drums, with those engineered for a temperate climate becoming ineffective in our tropical heat. One other notable feature especially regarding trucks is gradability.
This refers to the steepest gradient a truck can climb when fully loaded. Trucks engineered to work in relatively flat terrain can’t perform in steep terrains as exist in most parts of Uganda. Trucks assembled in Kenya for example, are tested at a steep slope called Mtito wa Ndeyi, in Ukambani, on Mombasa road. The field-tested and recommended gradability, (in geometric degrees), is then communicated to the product development department of the manufacturers for appropriate engineering.
Other tropicalisation features include the ground clearance, which is the height of the vehicle belly from the ground and it is a function of both the terrain and road condition. Ugandans must be familiar with our genius’s practice of ‘lifting’ vehicles!! This is precisely because we import vehicles too low for our crater-littered roads. Our temperatures differ from those of the temperate climate, thus a radiator designed for the temperate will be ineffective in the tropics. Truck bodies are normally designed and purpose-built. Thus a truck meant to carry light but bulky cargo like mattresses, will have a long body, a single rear axle and an extended rear overhang. Once imported here, such trucks are loaded to the maximum with high density cargo, thus the common sight of grounded matooke-ladden trucks on our highways.
Another vital feature which the PSI will not address is that of turbo-charged vehicles. A turbo-charger is a simple turbine (thus ‘turbo’), fitted across the exhaust system of the vehicle. Its single function is to boost air supply to the engine, propelled and turned by the escaping exhaust fumes. This is necessary in high altitude areas, where the natural supply of air is limited, thus limiting engine performance. Uganda’s proximity to the equator moderates our climate such that even in high altitude areas like Kapchorwa or Bundibugyo, a naturally-aspirated engine will have enough air supply and function normally with no need of a turbo-charger.
Simply put, we don’t need turbo-charged vehicles, much less used ones whose efficiency in burning fuel is reduced, thus increased unburnt emissions. This inefficient burning of fuel is what leads us to accuse certain oil companies of selling ‘evaporating’ fuel. The simple truth is that the engines are too old to maximumly burn the fuel. In fact 90% of Uganda’s fuel should be ‘Regular’, meant for old engines.
Automatic transmission should be limited to ‘saloon’ cars only, given the nature of our roads. This is the reason why you will not find an automatic transmission vehicle (especially station wagons or vans) in the showrooms of brand new vehicle dealers! It’s not accidental! Regarding ventilation and aeration, whoever has travelled in an ‘Ipsum’-class vehicle must have noted the ventilation, which will roast you live in our tropical heat!
Will the UNBS pre-shipment requirement address these key factors? How about spare parts? Will this junk in Katwe, Kisekka Market and elsewhere also undergo PSI? What of the ‘gray’ and counterfeit spare part market? Who will monitor this? Already we have a war between Toyota Uganda and Fontana Auto Parts over who imports ‘genuine’ Toyota spares. Is UNBS PSI addressing all these?
As others have argued before, the only way to ensure road-worthy vehicles is to limit the age of vehicles imported. This is a lesser evil, which prior to 1994 limited this age to vehicles under fours years from date of manufacturing. Try any vehicle of the UXO, UXI, UXT series...it is ‘newer’ today than your UAM...M series!
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written by Lakwena, January 04, 2010
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