At the Truck and Fleet Confex, industry leaders tackled the question that keeps every operator awake at night: how do you keep vehicles on the road longer, cut downtime, and make aftersales an asset rather than a burden?
The session, moderated by aftermarket consultant Gagan Kalra, brought together Sheerhan Jeaudeen, Head of Region Middle East & East Africa at ZF, and Adel Mir, CEO of NAZ Industries, to examine the challenges and opportunities in UAE fleet maintenance.
One of the biggest mistakes, they agreed, is focusing too narrowly on short-term costs. Jeaudeen stressed that operators often “chase the cheapest fix,” but warned that it rarely delivers long-term value. Instead, fleets must be educated on total cost of ownership (TCO) — weighing lifecycle costs, uptime and reliability alongside upfront spend.
Mir, speaking from a manufacturer’s perspective, said that NAZ’s Mammut trailers are built to last up to two decades — but only with proper servicing and the use of genuine parts. The difference between well-maintained and poorly maintained assets, he noted, can be measured in years of productive service.
For Jeaudeen, the next step is embracing predictive and proactive maintenance. He highlighted ZF’s Scalar platform for trucks and trailers, which uses AI and telemetry to monitor vehicle health, improve efficiency and plan interventions before breakdowns occur. Importantly, the system can be retrofitted to existing fleets as well as new models.
“Technology means operators no longer have to wait for failures to occur,” he explained. “Data gives them the ability to act early — extending vehicle life and reducing unexpected costs.”
While digital tools are transforming workshops, Mir emphasised that responsiveness is still the foundation of strong customer relationships. Breakdowns, he argued, must never mean trucks stranded for days. His company maintains rapid-response teams able to reach stranded units within hours, ensuring downtime is measured in hours, not days.
“Every hour a trailer is idle is money lost,” Mir said. “Our job is to reduce that impact as much as possible.”
The panel also addressed the continuing strain on global supply chains. From COVID to regional shipping disruptions, lead times for parts have lengthened. Jeaudeen said ZF is investing in regional hubs and tighter forecasting with customers to shorten the journey from manufacturer to operator.
Mir added that manufacturers must sometimes sacrifice stock margins to keep fleets moving: “If a critical part isn’t available, we open up our own units to make sure the customer gets moving again. It’s not a cost — it’s an investment.”
Education was a recurring theme throughout the discussion. Both speakers called for better training for drivers and technicians, ensuring operators understand vehicle limits, maintenance schedules and the importance of using genuine parts.
Mir also underlined the dangers of overloading. Too many fleets, he said, buy trailers rated for 50 tonnes and run them at 80 tonnes. The resulting strain inevitably leads to failures, no matter how strong the chassis.
The issue of counterfeit parts remains another pressing concern. Jeaudeen said awareness campaigns and legal action are helping, but ultimately it is operator discipline that keeps fake parts out of the market. Mir noted that with older trucks still prevalent on UAE roads, many operators still opt for cheap fixes unless regulation forces change.
The panel closed with a clear message: uptime is not a one-off purchase — it is the product of partnerships. Stronger collaboration between operators, suppliers and manufacturers, supported by data, training and planning, is the only way to sustain vehicle performance in a competitive market.
As Kalra concluded, “Improving uptime is about innovation, awareness, knowledge and service. With the right partnerships, fleets in the UAE can not only survive but thrive.”
