It was just an ordinary Tuesday morning when I opened my inbox as usual and spotted an email from Saudi Arabia among a pile of inquiries. The message was brief, simply requesting a quote for four tanker semi-trailers that met SASO certification standards, with a Saudi local phone number at the end.
After checking the time zone and realizing it was business hours in Saudi Arabia, I dialed the number directly. The call was answered amid a noisy background, sounding like a construction site. After a quick self-introduction, the man on the other end told me his name was Khalid, and he was the fleet manager of an oil transport company.
Two weeks later, Khalid suddenly informed me he was coming to China for an inspection. I prepared a factory tour route in advance. We drove straight to the facility, and as we passed the welding workshop, he stopped abruptly, pulled out his phone, and took a dozen close-up photos of the weld seams.
I guided him through the tour, introducing our tanker semi-trailers. The negotiation went surprisingly smoothly—until he suddenly asked, “What if quality issues arise after the trucks arrive in Saudi?”
I bent down, picked up a rusty bolt from the ground, and placed it in his hand.
“See this rust?” I pointed at the joint of the bolt. “Our tankers use hot-dip galvanizing—no corrosion like this for at least ten years.” Then, I led him to a tanker being loaded for shipment and forcefully scratched the weld seam with a key.
Three months later, the first batch of five tankers arrived at Jeddah Port. Khalid messaged me, saying there were customs clearance issues requiring additional documents. Due to the time difference, I woke up at 3 a.m. for three straight days to coordinate with the Saudi team. Eventually, we discovered the problem was a misplaced decimal point in the certification—once corrected, the shipment was finally released.
Last month, Khalid emailed me about placing another order for 15 trucks. Attached was a photo: Our tanker was driving along the highway from Yanbu to Riyadh, its newly painted company logo glistening under the sunlight.
