Three New Komatsu Dozers Supplied To SoilCon
The Soil Conservation Service operates from 37 locations around NSW, providing a range of services specialising in environmental protection, rehabilitation and land management.
It offers a complete range of professional and technical services in erosion and sediment control, soil and water testing, land assessment, water supply, rehabilitation and revegetation techniques.
The service’s conservation earthworks operation is centred primarily in the tablelands and grainbelt of NSW, where farmers are working large, gently sloping lands, Broadbased banks, waterways and farm dams are typical works undertaken.
“Around 75% of our work is for rural landholders, with the balance being environmental works for a range of clients including the catchment management authorities. We are very strongly involved with the environmental rehabilitation of degraded lands, including mine site”.
Soil Conservation Service operates 40 dozers in the D5-D6 class, along with a number of excavators, and is believed to be the largest operator of this sized dozer in the southern hemisphere, if not the world.
It has just leased two new Komatsu D65EX-15 dozers, plus it has a third one on loan.
In addition, it has five other D65EX-12s in its fleet, along with four D53A dozers delivered during 1990 and which have up to 20,000 hours on them – a total of 12 Komatsu equipment dozers in the fleet.
“We are now phasing out these D53A – they are getting on, but they’ve been a pretty reliable tractor over the years – and we hope to replace them with similar size dozers,”
“That smaller size is particularly well suited to our kinds of work.
“Over the years we’ve had a great experience with our D65EX-12 dozers; one is still on lease, and the other four we purchased from Komatsu when they came off lease,”
“The backup and support from Komatsu has been very good; the support and service provided by Michael Edwards, our local representative has been excellent – it’s probably been better than other suppliers.”
In addition to the Komatsu dozers, the Soil Conservation Service has a PC200-6 and a PC220LC-7.
The PC200 is currently working in the Hunter Valley placing rock and revetment work at Hexham.
The excavator is regularly employed in flood mitigation maintenance works in the Hunter and following the severe recent floods in the region will be occupied for some time on repairs to damaged infrastructure.
The PC220 has been working in our southern region earthworks program, working on farm dams assisting one of our new D65s and general earthwork projects which will include works associated with the Hume Freeway extension, an $800 million RTA alliance project.