Four names come up in almost every conversation we have: HOWO, SITRAK, Shacman and Beiben. Buyers ask which is best, and that is the wrong question with no answer. The useful question is what each one is, and this is that.
Sinotruk HOWO
The volume brand, and the truck this market is built on.
HOWO is Sinotruk’s mainstream heavy line and it is the most common Chinese truck in Africa by a distance. That fact is most of its value. The mechanic in your town has worked on one. The parts shop stocks the filters. When you sell it, the next buyer knows what it is.
Mechanically it is a conventional heavy truck: Sinotruk or Weichai engines, 12-speed manual gearboxes, 6×4 or 8×4, rated at 40 tonnes towing as a prime mover or 25 to 45 tonnes as a tipper.
Where HOWO gets confusing is the cab lines, and that confusion costs buyers money. HW76, HW79, NX and TX are cab designations on broadly similar running gear. They are not model generations and a higher letter is not a better truck. See the section below, because this is the decision most people get wrong.
Sinotruk SITRAK
Sinotruk’s premium line, and the one built closest to MAN engineering.
Sinotruk has a long-standing technical relationship with MAN, and SITRAK is where that shows most. Against a HOWO of the same power you are buying a better cab, a better interior and a driveline specified further up the range.
It tows the same 40 tonnes. It is not a bigger truck, it is a better-finished one, and it costs more to buy and more to ship: the SITRAK we hold is 72 m³ on the vessel against 55 for a HOWO NX.
Buy it for long-distance work with drivers who live in the cab. Do not buy it for regional runs where the truck comes home each night, because you will have paid for a cab nobody sleeps in.
Shacman Delong
The other name you will hear constantly, and the F3000 in particular.
Shacman is the second brand a buyer in this market recognises, and the Delong 6×4 is most of that presence. The engines are Weichai, which is the largest independent heavy diesel maker in China and an engine family that turns up across the market including in wide-body mining trucks.
Shacman runs five Delong cab lines and we hold all of them: M3000, F3000, H3000, X3000 and X5000. Again, these are cabs, not generations.
The F3000 is the name asked for most often, and the reason is familiarity rather than specification: it has been in West and Central Africa longest, so the mechanics know it and the parts move. In a market where the nearest official dealer may be in another country, that is a real reason to buy a truck.
Beiben, and the Mercedes question
Beiben is North Benz. It is built on Mercedes-Benz licensed technology. It is not a Mercedes-Benz.
This one needs stating plainly because the market blurs it constantly. The licensing arrangement is genuine and long-standing, and the cab lineage is where you see it. Buyers across francophone West Africa ask for “the Benz” and mean this truck.
What follows from that is a test you can apply to any seller. The manufacturer is Beiben, and the engine on these trucks is usually Weichai, not Mercedes. Anyone selling you a Beiben as a Mercedes-Benz is telling you something about the rest of the conversation, and it is worth noticing early.
Bought as what it is, it is a good truck with a real engineering pedigree. We do not hold one at the moment. Ask us anyway: we source outside the catalogue, and knowing you want one is how it gets into the yard.
The mistake almost everyone makes
Here is the thing that matters more than the badge, and it is the reason this post exists.
Buyers choose the brand and then accept whatever cab comes with it. The cab is the expensive decision.
Every 6×4 prime mover in our range tows 40 tonnes. Not “about 40”, the same 40. The engine varies between roughly 371 and 550 hp and that changes how the truck copes with hills, but no cab line changes the rating. What the cab changes is two things, and both cost money.
What you ship. A tractor unit has no body, so the cab is most of the box you pay to move across an ocean:
| Truck | Cab | Shipping volume |
|---|---|---|
| Shacman M3000 and F3000 | low | 54 m³ |
| HOWO NX, Shacman H3000 | low | 55 m³ |
| HOWO with HW79 double sleeper | mid | 65 m³ |
| HOWO TX, HOWO NX 460, Shacman X3000 and X5000 | high | 68 m³ |
| SITRAK, FAW J6P | high | 72 m³ |
From the smallest to the largest is 18 cubic metres per truck. On one unit that is worth having. On a fleet of six it is a substantial figure, and none of it buys you a kilogram of extra payload.
What the driver gets. Which is not a soft consideration. On a three-day corridor route in heat, cab space, sealing and noise decide whether the truck runs through the night with two drivers or parks at dusk, and whether the driver is still working for you next year.
So the rule is: pick the cab from the work, then pick the brand from what your local mechanics and parts suppliers already handle. That order round gets you a truck that fits the job and can be fixed. The other way round gets you a badge.
The short version
- Day and regional work, drivers go home: a low cab. Shacman M3000 or F3000, or the HOWO NX. Cheapest to buy, cheapest to ship, nothing given up that you were using.
- Multi-day routes, drivers sleep in the truck: a high cab. SITRAK, Shacman X3000, or the HOWO HW79 double sleeper if two drivers work it in shifts.
- Routes with real climbs: buy power, not cab. Shacman X3000 or X5000, or the 460 hp HOWO NX.
- You want new, clean and automatic: the FAW J6P, which is the only one.
- Your local trade already runs one brand: buy that brand. It outweighs almost everything above.
And then ask us
Tell us the route, the load and what your local workshops already handle, and we will tell you which of these to take, including when the answer is the cheapest one on the page.
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