Today, around 250 tons of aid with a value of around 1.25 million Euro were sent on their way by truck from the Mercedes-Benz Central Shipping Warehouse in the Stuttgart Neckar Port to the refugee camp located about 4000 kilometers away near the Turkish-Syrian border. This is the fourth aid convoy for Syrian refugees to be organized by Daimler Trucks and the Frankfurt aid organization "Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen e.V." (LOG) (Aviation without Borders) since 2013. Daimler employees donate more than 72 470 Euro, company doubles refugee aid to 144 940 Euro.
For the four humanitarian convoys and the two humanitarian flights the employees and the management have donated more than half a million Euro. With the four Convoys and the two Humanitarian aid Flights, more than 1000 tons of emergency goods have been delivered.
At the departure of the fourth aid convoy for Syria, Management Board Member Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard once again strongly praised this permanent and reliable commitment: "We are proud of the commitment and generosity of our employees. When needed, we don't talk much – We get down to business and help. As we are doing now with the start of Daimler's fourth Syrian convoy."
Aid for Syrian refugees directly on site
As last year, Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG for Trucks & Buses, personally gave the starting sign for the departure of the nine Mercedes-Benz trucks. In doing so, he referred to the continued dramatic situation in the refugee camps: "The number of people in Turkish refugee camps has risen to 2.5 million and an end of the emergency situation is not in sight. The refugees in the camps must endure partly inhuman conditions. We help the refugees where we can help the best: directly on site."
Frank Franke, President of the Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen organization, had a similar assessment of the situation in the camps: "We see it as a great challenge to give some hope together with Daimler AG to the huge number of refugees who are still fleeing from terror and death. Our convoy to the Turkish-Syrian border area will secure the help that is urgently needed for many people."
In the fourth Syrian aid convoy, the Mercedes-Benz trucks are carrying aid supplies collected by LOG for about 10 000 Syrian refugees in the Turkish camp under the motto "Convoy of Hope". The trucks are loaded with blankets, winter clothing, diapers and bed mattresses.
Donated ambulance vehicles save several thousand people per year
One Actros truck is carrying particularly valuable aid for the Turkish-Syrian border area: two ambulance vehicles, including a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 318 CDI ambulance. Thus, a total of nine ambulances have already been donated since the start of the aid convoy campaign. They are used not only in the Turkish refugee camps but also travel across borders in order to take people who are sick, weakened and wounded in the war to hospitals. Each ambulance makes an average of two runs per day. This means that the ambulance fleet saves several thousand people per year.
SOS-Kinderdörfer worldwide organization taking part in the Syria convoy for the first time
The sponsors of the fourth Syria convoy include Daimler Trucks and LOG as well as - for the first time - the SOS-Kinderdörfer (SOS Children's Villages) worldwide organization. The donations collected through the more than 60-year old association are shipped to the children's villages in Serbia and Macedonia in one of the nine Mercedes-Benz trucks. These donations consist of toys for refugee children, including craft supplies, colored pencils, drawing blocks and small backpacks, as well as life-saving blankets for the cold season.
According to Wilfried Vyslozil, Board Chairman of the SOS-Kinderdörfer worldwide organization, games, drawing and a protected environment can give traumatized refugee children some temporary relief. The children can thus begin to recover psychologically.
Nine Actros articulated trucks on a journey of 4000 kilometers
The semitrailers loaded with 250 tons of aid suppliers are pulled by nine Actros 1845 LS trucks. These articulated trucks get their power from a 12.8 liter in-line six-cylinder diesel engine with 330 kW/449 PS. They are accompanied by three team vehicles – two Mercedes-Benz Vitos and one Unimog. The U 4000 with a double cabin is used as a service and recovery vehicle. Over the last decades, the legendary Unimogs have proven themselves in disaster regions on all continents of the world.
The 18-ton vehicles are provided by Mercedes-Benz CharterWay. Since 1992, the company offers services and mobility in connection with the purchase, service and management of Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles – all from a single source.
The trucks of CharterWay are equipped with the telematics system FleetBoard, which enables economical and wear-resistant driving. In addition, they are equipped with the automatic transmission Mercedes PowerShift 3, the safety and assistance systems Active Brake Assist 3 and Attention Assist as standard features.
The Actros vehicles thus guarantee a high standard of safety as well as efficiency on the long trip to southern Turkey. The route will take them from Germany to Austria over Central Europe, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria to the Turkish border. In Istanbul, the convoy will go over to the Asian side and pass the Turkish Mercedes-Benz truck plant in Aksaray. After a journey of some 4000 kilometers, the trucks will be eagerly awaited in the refugee camps in Southern Turkey on the Turkish-Syrian border.
Permanent and reliable help for Syrian refugees
Daimler has been organizing aid shipments to Syrian refugee camps in Turkey together with LOG for three years. On September 20, 2013, World Children's Day, the Stuttgart Group sent the first aid convoy to the Turkish-Syrian border area.
At the end of 2013, Daimler employees started a donation campaign for Syrian refugees. The workforce collected 52 870 Euro, which was doubled by the company. On December 10, 2013, this enabled sending a second convoy to the refugee areas, which Daimler supported with a total of 105 740 Euro in aid supplies.
Another Daimler donation campaign was organized a year later: The employees donated 121 073 Euro and Daimler doubled the amount with at least 125 000 Euro. The donation of 246 000 Euro enabled chartering two refugee airplanes with aid suppliers, which flew to Erbil in Northern Iraq on December 19, 2014 and January 30, 2015.
As part of the third Daimler aid convoy for Syria - organized under the motto "Wings on Wheels – Convoy of Hope 2015" – eight Actros articulated trucks loaded with 120 tons of aid left the Mercedes-Benz Plant in Untertürkheim for the Turkish-Syrian border on June 22, 2015. They carried tents, blankets, clothing and shoes – urgently needed aid for the refugees in the Turkish camps.
