It has already paid a visit to its previous home where the new owner expressed satisfaction with his purchase.

The truck has been trouble-free over the past 18 years having been regularly serviced and maintained by Hino Pietermaritzburg in its early days, but subsequently the CPS Seedlings account has moved to Hino Pinetown.

“This Hino has pulled a pup trailer for at least half its million kilometres in CPS Seedlings’ service,” explained Julian Chaning-Pearce, Managing Director of the Greytown branch of CPS Seedlings. (His brother, Adrian, looks after the Pongola operation.) “Average fuel consumption has been around 25 l/100km without the trailer and 31 l/100km when towing the pup.”

The CPS Seedlings fleet currently consists of 13 commercial vehicles based in Greytown, with 12 of them Hinos from 2-12 tons, while at the Pongola branch there are a further four commercial vehicles, of which two are Hinos. In addition, the fleet operates 14 Toyota light commercial vehicles.

“When asked if he would buy another Hino truck he answered: “They are on order all the time!”

“I can honestly say that transport is the least of our worries when running our business,” concludes Julian.

CPS Seedlings was founded in 1985 by Mark Chaning-Pearce, operating in Cato Ridge as a one-person business with one bakkie. The company has now reached its fourth generation of the Chaning-Pearce family. Its current delivery fleet covers a combined one million kilometres annually, while the company has produced and delivered more than 1.8 billion plants in the past 40 years.