Capital Equipment News March 2015

TRANSPORT

Hillary Construction moves ahead WITH SCANIA TRUCKS H illary Construction, a progressive civil engineering company which has risen from a family business in 1963 to become a private company in 1991. the selection of the range of equipment they have in their extensive fleet. By Pierre Sanson

Recently, Polokwane Surfacing upgraded their truck fleet with the inclusion of six Scania trucks, falling in line with their strict plant replacement programme. The Scania’s selected for the fleet are the latest G460, 8X4 tippers with the addition of a pup trailer with every unit. Both trucks and trailers are fitted with 15 cum AluTip aluminium bodies. The Scania G460 is powered by a 13 litre Scania in-line six cylinder diesel engine with an output of 338kW @1900 rpm and torque of 2250 Nm between 1000 to 1350 rpm. The engine drives through an Opticruise transmission to the 3:42 ratio differential which comes complete with power divider and differential locks. The trucks are being used mainly in trans- porting hot asphalt for the road building and maintenance projects within a radius of be- tween 10 km and 250 km over undulating and sometimes difficult terrain. The other application for these Scanias is the transport of aggregate. “The decision to purchase Scanias for the fleet was made after a thorough evaluation of the market, having looked at the spares pricing and availability as well as the fuel

With the head office in Polokwane, Hillary now operates not only in South Africa but also in Botswana and Zambia With the Hillary family still major sharehold- ers in the company, the company has also invited outside investors and introduced a share option scheme, offered to its employ- ees. Today the company can boast a 25% black ownership. The prime activity of the company is in con- struction, with other areas of importance being, maintenance of national, provincial and township roads. The upgrading of gravel roads to bitumen surfaces, asphalt surfacing and overlays has been a major development in recent years through their subsidiary company, Polokwane Surfacing. Over and above these activities are bulk earthworks, township development and all aspects of construction. The company’s commitment to quality is not only restricted to the service it provides but is also extended to the selection of services and products it requires from its service providers. This philosophy is borne out with

Trevor Freestone, Operations Director of the Hillary Group

consumption figures based on operations of similar nature,” said Trevor Freestone, Oper- ations Director of the Hillary Group. Further, he added, “So far we have been impressed with the ability of the trucks to deal with the loads, on the road, which has enabled us to optimize cost per tonne/km, working with the vehicles’ fuel economy and operating costs.” Hillary Construction has invested heavily in their maintenance facilities and with the val- ued assistance from Scania will be providing in-house back-up for the vehicles. “We have been very impressed in the man- ner in which Scania has conducted this deal and the quality of the vehicles supplied and as a result we have taken delivery of a Scania 6x4 tractor for our lowbed operation and have placed an order for an additional 10 Scania G460 8x4 tippers for Polokwane Surfacing, which are due for delivery in April 2015,” concluded Freestone. b

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CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS MARCH 2015