Zoukie Trucking hits the street with new fleet
Foresees expansion, and preparing for bigger 2023 carnival celebrations
Published:Tuesday | July 12, 2022 | 12:07 AMStephanie Lyew/Gleaner Writer
From serving as a bar to providing the mammoth speaker set-ups with a platform, and also for moving portable bathrooms, the trucks and the manpower that moves them have one of the biggest roles on road march day.
Without trucks, carnival would not be the same. Some of Trinidad and Tobago’s soca recording artistes have written odes to the fleets hitting the streets over the decades.
Machel Montano won Trinidad’s 1997 Annual Road March Competition with Big Truck, and in 2014, Bunji Garlin jumps in to boast about being the centre of the revelry with the hit single Truck On D Road. The latter only speaks to having one truck on the road, but Zoukie Trucking staff have adopted the song as an anthem, even while powering up 16 juggernauts for the 2022 Carnival in Jamaica season.
According to Sophie Powell, Zoukie’s general and human resources manager, when compared to previous years, the company utilised approximately the same number of trucks for the execution, even though only two bands formed the masquerade with seemingly less revellers than usual.
“Surprisingly, it wasn’t a significantly smaller fleet; we matched the count of trucks we have had on the road in past carnival celebrations, and that also meant new additions for the fleet. This year, for Bacchanal, we had six and 10 trucks for Xodus’ parade; and for us to move like a well-oiled machine, our staff complement totalled about 50 members for the carnival operation,” Powell told The Gleaner.
Zoukie Trucking has been a primary service provider for carnival in Jamaica since the inaugural staging of Jamaica Carnival in 1990, when it only needed five or less trucks, and has had up to a record of 25 trucks active during the last three masquerades.
Powell admitted that had the Carnival Stakeholders Committee announced an Easter date for the commencement of the carnival season, their fleet would not have been completely ready for the road.
She explained that “Nothing was together. Remember, we were basically parked since the pandemic because, aside from carnival executions, everything slowed down, including imports. Ships weren’t coming in, literally nothing was happening.”
She further explained that reassembly, improvements and upgrades were necessary for Zoukie’s trucks to be up to par, which required several months of planning and preparation.
“It was like we were starting from scratch to build the trailers and getting things back in order. We started this in March. We used to have International tractor heads, and there were still about four to five of them from the old fleet in this year’s road march; but we upgraded the fleet with brand new Foton tractor heads and trucks,” she said. “I’m not sure how many persons realised this, but these trucks are not the same ones we used to use a couple years ago. We are modernising and changing over the Zoukie Trucking fleet. And with the cost of fuel significantly at higher prices per litre, we have found that it’s more economical to replace old with new.”
The manager said that the company has remained grateful to the carnival community and for being able to “stay afloat” in one of the roughest global health and economic crises.
“We were able to keep all the staff, [so] no one went home and no one was laid off. I would imagine that 2023 will be a bigger execution, which means more crew members. My advice for the bands, looking towards the future, is to have an earlier start time to avoid the chaos that tends to happen during the evening hours, where [there is] traffic and the lack of the natural light on the streets,” Powell said.
Linval West, a truck driver who has worked with Zoukie Trucking for over five years, though serious-faced, was elated to once again participate in the Carnival in Jamaica celebrations. However, he was not working in his usual capacity; instead, he was one of the personnel responsible for managing and coordinating the movement of the mobile machines through the Kingston and St Andrew roadways.
“For me, it’s a normal workday because a lot of logistics and communication goes into what we do. It’s not just about the drivers driving a truck, but manoeuvring them for the safest and more comfortable movement for both the vehicles and the people. It’s what the people require in terms of top service from Zoukie,” West said. He added that it was a great joy to see revellers back out on the road.
“I was more focused on fulfilling my duties, but I can say I had a little fun because I got to see people enjoying themselves, and it’s contagious when people are in a good mood. It looked like a lot more persons, being at the centre of the crowd, but I know [that] because of COVID-19, some people decided to sit this one out, while others made an effort to come out because they missed outside and the gathering. For [the] future, I want persons to be more aware and just follow our advice when we give it, because we’re only looking out for them,” he continued.