“AutoKrAZ” and the Ministry of Construction of the CubanRepublic signed the contract as part of long-term cooperation in terms of KrAZ fleet upgrade. Sixty repair kits will be delivered to Cuban company Konstruimport under this contract.
It will be recalled that large-scale Ukrainian-Cuban project was launched over 5 years ago in November 2008. The project was initiated by the Ministry of Construction of Cuba that proposed to "AutoKrAZ" to upgrade old trucks most of which were the KrAZ-256 dump trucks being in service over 30 years. By that time, the fleet of the Ministry of Construction of Cuba numbered several thousands of old KrAZ trucks. Some trucks were inactive because of worn down parts and units, but most vehicles of the Cuban fleets were still in service due to huge amount of structural strength.
The upgrade project involves replacement of old wooden cab with metal one and replacement of worn out parts and units. Parts and units for replacement are from the KrAZ-6510, a successor of the legendary KrAZ-256B.
Repair factory KrAZ-SOMЕС established in Cienfuegos can upgrade about 200 trucks a year. Since 2009, KrAZ-SOMЕС has upgraded over 300 units.
It should be mentioned that the joint project of "AutoKrAZ" and the Ministry of Construction of Cuba is of great importance for both parties. For Cuban economy, it means achieving high local content level, development of Cuban machine-building industry and job creation, refurbishment of old trucks.
For KrAZ, it provided the company with a foothold in the market of the Island of Freedom, as traditional suppler of heavy-duty trucks and helped bring nations of Cuba and Ukraine together.
Information
Until 1992, Cuba was the biggest importer of KrAZ trucks. Since 1960 about 10 000 units have been supplied to the Island of Freedom. After collapse of the Soviet Union economic ties were broken and deliveries of KrAZ trucks to Cuba were stopped. Vigorous efforts taken by “AutoKrAZ" to regain its market share since 2007 resulted in resumption of deliveries to Cuba.
