The Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing at Iveco, Franco Miniero (above), handed over to Beppe Tenti, Head and Founder of International Trekking, the keys of the vehicles taking part in the new adventure starting in early January 2010, destination Africa. With the vehicle handover ceremony recently held at the Iveco headquarters in Turin (above), the Overland 12 expedition, an tough adventure that will involve a route of 47,000 km heading through the Africa continent starting from Genoa, has officially started.

With the vehicle handover ceremony recently held at the Iveco headquarters in Torino, the Overland 12 expedition officially started. The Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing at Iveco, Franco Miniero, handed over to Beppe Tenti, Head and Founder of International Trekking, the keys of the vehicles taking part in the new adventure starting in early January 2010, destination Africa.

The fleet consists of six vehicles in the classic orange livery that has made them famous, beginning with 2 of the legendary bonneted 330.30 ANW 6x6s that have been reconditioned after so many years and so many expeditions, having covered more than 250,000 km. One of the vehicles is the canteen and the other the sleeping quarters, also with interior appointment updated by Mussa & Graziano.

To these are added four new Iveco vehicles; a Trakker 6x6 equipped by the Sperotto company as a Workshop, a Daily 4x4 crew cab fitted with an Onnicar box body dedicated to house equipment and additional people from charity organisations during the mission and two Massif 5-door 4x4s equipped by TruckTech to transport the Trekking International team.

The Overland 12 adventure involves a route of 47,000 km through Africa starting from Genoa to reach Spain by sea and then Morocco and from there to reach across the Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Burundi, Rwanda, and then returning up the great continent via Chad, Uganda, Kenya, 'Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt and then by ship back to Italy.

"For us, Overland is something more than just an adventure - commented Franco Minieri - where our vehicles are incredible players in business, looking for new limits to overcome. It is a real event for the fans but not only, combining the charm of adventure in humanitarian and solidarity, expressing a great positive energy, just like that which we put into every working day. That is why we are happy to accompany Beppe Tenti with our vehicles on this new journey."

The expedition is expected to arrive to welcoming celebrations in Rome during May. Throughout the long journey a film crew will record the crossing of the great African continent and the performance of the Iveco vehicles will be tested to the extreme.

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