Rice to the occasion

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Scania Group Press Release  /  June 2, 2017

Since 1998, Italtrasporti has been carrying high-quality rice from the fields of northern Italy to the factories where it is processed and packed. Siblings Moreno and Ornella Quarone, owners of the company, have always preferred Scania, and above all the V8, to help them accomplish this mission.

In Italy, people at weddings throw rice to wish happiness to the newlyweds. And it is rice that has been at the basis of the solid, happy marriage that has lasted for 20 years between Italtrasporti and Scania V8 trucks.

The Scania S 580 V8 Next Generation is the latest addition to the fleet of Italtrasporti, a company located in Remondò, situated 60 kilometres to the south-east of Milan. Seven new R 450 trucks with 6-cylinder engines will be arriving soon, too.

Moreno and Ornella Quarone, owners of Italtrasporti, are loyal to the Scania brand.

“Our company was founded in 1998, and since 1999 we have always used Scania trucks,” Moreno Quarone says.

Remondò is in the middle of the part of Italy that specialises in growing risotto rice of the highest quality.

“Twenty years ago my brother Moreno and I were looking for a way forward in the world of work,” says Ornella Quarone, director of the company. “We were looking for it in our own area. Moreno has always loved engines, so the solution seemed to be natural: transporting rice from the fields to the facilities for processing, distributing and selling.”

Today, Italtrasporti has 40 employees and a fleet of 35 vehicles. Fifteen of these are Scania V8s and 13 are Scanias with 6-cylinder engines. Almost all the trucks are tippers, the ideal combination for the farms. Only three are tractors with semitrailers for the big loads of processed and packaged rice.

From day one, rice has been the only product transported by the company, a guarantee for a high degree of specialisation.

“We don’t provide just a transport service,” explains Ornella Quarone. “Our drivers attend specific courses and can conduct on-site quality checks on the rice they load on the trucks. From the office, we manage the scheduling of deliveries to the industries that process or package what is rightly considered to be the white gold of this part of Italy.”

Scania Fleet Management

The Italtrasporti trucks do not make long hauls – their journeys total on average 300 to 400 kilometres a day – but they always carry a full load.

“The Scania trucks cost a little more than the others, but they are a safe investment,” says Moreno Quarone. “We keep on using them for many years. The V8 trucks in particular have excellent performance, giving very little trouble, and maintaining a very high residual value at the time of trade-in.

“Having a fleet with so many Scania V8 trucks is also the best way to acquire the most skilled and motivated drivers around,” he continues. “The V8 trucks are a magnet for attracting the best professional drivers, and provide yet another motivation for working to the best standards.”

There is a very close relationship between Italtrasporti and Scania. With Scania’s Fleet Management system, Scania staff in Italy monitor the company’s trucks daily, tracking the functioning and performance of the vehicles and suggesting the best driving styles for the drivers.

There is no doubt that Moreno Quarone is besotted with the Scania trucks, and above all the V8. However, the latest declaration of love comes from his sister, Ornella Quarone.

“The V8 is the truck we love, the one that represents the company,” she says. “It’s the truck where when you start it up, it makes your heart warm, and this is the reward for doing this job.”

Facts

The 1949 film Riso Amaro (Bitter Rice) was selected as one of the 100 Italian films to be saved for their cultural and social importance to the nation.

The film is a tale of crime, doomed romance and murder that takes place during the rice-planting season in the Po Valley of northern Italy.

It’s believed that rice was first introduced to Italy by Arab settlers during the early part of the Middle Ages.

There are more than 40,000 different varieties of rice worldwide, but only around 10 percent are marketed and sold.

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