“You get what you pay for at the end of the day”
The conclusion of Ian Johnston, Managing Director of Celmisa Plant Hire Ltd, Neilston, Glasgow, as he reflects on his long association operating Volvo articulated haulers and the latest two arrivals to the Celmisa fleet in the guise of Volvo A30Gs.
Celmisa Plant Hire is a close-knit, family run business which is celebrating forty years of trading this year.
“My father Charlie founded the company in 1978 and back then, we were involved in agricultural contracting, drainage and some bulk earthmoving,” explains the current Managing Director and son of the founder, Ian Johnston. “Volvo articulated haulers have been a part of our company for most of this time – certainly for the last 35 years and we cannot fault them. Even today, we are still running 20-year old A35Cs on our own contracting jobs and have just overhauled one of them completely. However, the new A30Gs we’ve just purchased will be deployed in our operated plant hire fleet.”
The A30G hauler from Volvo meets the requirements of Stage-IV final emissions legislation being powered by an electronically controlled, six-cylinder 264kW turbo charged Volvo V-ACT diesel engine. This features high torque at low engine speeds, resulting in good fuel efficiency, high performance, quicker engine response and less wear, so longer service life. Purpose built by Volvo, the engine is designed to exactly match the Volvo drivetrain, ensuring the best use of power and torque, even in tough working conditions. Delivering exceptional fuel efficiency, it is matched to a torque converter with built in lock-up function and is fitted with a fully automatic, fast adaptive transmission. The rest of the Volvo designed and built powertrain has been reinforced to cope with the higher torque output of the engine.
With a carrying capacity of 28 tonnes and heaped capacity of 17.5m³, the Volvo A30G has a maximum speed of 53kph. The hauler is also fitted with CareTrack as standard, which is Volvo’s telematics system that enables remote monitoring of a wide range of machine functions - location, fuel consumption, service reminders, etc, thus optimizing customer operations.
“Certainly the Volvo articulated hauler is the best on the market – not just in performance and reliability but they hold their worth, making them very attractive from a residual value standpoint,” says Ian. “You really do get what you pay for at the end of the day.”