In the two biggest sales in its 81-year history, Goughs is supplying 95 pieces of Caterpillar machinery, worth $120 million, to Solid Energy’s Stockton opencast coking coal mine north of Westport.

Both contracts, which are of similar size, comprise 58 trucks, 19 excavators, five tracked and three wheeled bulldozers, seven wheel-loaders and three motor-graders. The first contract was awarded towards the end of last year and the second last month (May). Delivery has already started on the first contact.

Karl Smith, Group Chief Executive Officer of Gough Group, says that securing two orders of this magnitude, in such a short timeframe, was a huge vote of confidence in Goughs and its staff and also the Caterpillar product.

“As a company and dealership we have always had such great faith in the quality of the Caterpillar product and it is fantastic that Solid Energy and the Stockton Alliance (the Solid Energy and Downer EDI Mining NZ Ltd partnership which operates the mine) have that same faith, both in the equipment and the technical expertise of our Goughs team.

“Orders of this magnitude have a trickle down effect right through the company and out into the community. We had more than 100 staff assembling, commissioning and installing the first phase of the project, and there will be even more when Stage II kicks in.

“The contracts have also had a very positive impact on our apprentice programme. This year we took on 13 new apprentices, out of 340 applicants, for heavy diesel mechanical trade and engineering and are already looking to add to those numbers. We currently have 64 apprentices within the business at various stages of their courses and would be one of the largest employers of apprentices in this specialist field,” he said.

Westport will also be a winner with Goughs committed to set up a new branch in the town, employing up to 10 people, to back the Company’s commitment to the Alliance and the Stockton project.

“We’re working from a temporary facility at the moment but we’re going through due diligence in preparation for a move into a permanent site. A number of local jobs have been created from the supply of the equipment, and we hope to provide further opportunities in future,” Smith said.

The Caterpillar machinery purchase is one of a number of improvement initiatives at the mine, which Solid Energy is now operating in an alliance partnership with Downer EDI Mining.

The state-owned energy company ended its main contract mining arrangements last October and its partnership, Stockton Alliance, has been operating the mine since then using the former contractors’ machinery on a hire basis.

The Gough contract includes

Trucks

• 20 Cat Articulated Trucks
• 12 55-tonne payload Cat Off Highway Trucks, including service trucks and one water truck
• 21 91-tonne Cat Off Highway Trucks with two of the latter operating as water trucks 
• a 200 tonne transporter
• four extended haulage Haulmax Off Highway Trucks.

Excavators

• 19 Caterpillar excavators 

Wheel loaders

• 7 Cat Wheel Loaders, including two with an operating weight of 97 tonnes

Tracked dozers

• 5 Caterpillar Track-Type Dozers.

Wheeled dozers

• 3 Caterpillar Wheel Dozers, including two with an operating weight of 98 tonnes

Motor graders

• 3 Cat M-Series Motor Graders.
  

Goughs has currently got incredible deals on Cat 3200, 3300 and 3400 engine parts. 

The offer applies to industrial and marine engines, truck engines, gen sets and engines in machines and includes the following engine components for all genuine Cat new, reman and classic engine parts.  

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With a record number of logs leaving New Zealand shores, driven by China’s insatiable growth, ISO Limited has embarked on a machine replacement programme to ensure their Stevedoring operations can handle the increase in volumes for their customers without compromising productivity.

Part of this replacement program is the purchase of two new Caterpillar 315DL Excavators, the first of which has recently been delivered by Goughs and is now performing log stowage duties for ISO Limited at the Port of Gisborne.

ISO Limited’s Machinery Manager Chris Robinson says the company decided to increase its purchase of machinery to match the expected increase in log volumes at the ports in which ISO Limited provides stevedoring services.  These include the Ports of Tauranga, Marsden Point, Gisborne, Napier, Wellington, Nelson and Timaru. 

 “The Cat excavator purchases are part of ISO’s machine replacement programme to ensure high productivity for our customers. By reducing the average age of the excavator fleet, we reduce the R&M costs, and in turn reduce down time (hidden cost). The pay of is increased productivity. We also concentrated on a push on training with the emphasis on reducing damage.”

It was the overall package that secured the deal to go with the Caterpillar units. “Although CAT wouldn’t warranty the booms and dipper arms if we modified them for our application, the Gough Group stood behind their engineering themselves, this gave us the confidence in their product to secure the first two machines. Goughs provided the full package, from the machine, to a full warranty. Gough Engineering put a awesome package together and they have backed it up with a full warranty out to 6000 hrs.”

Chris says, “The Cat 315DL has a purpose built front end, giving us a task suited machine for log stowage in the ships hold. It’s a harsh environment where safety of personnel is paramount.”

“The 315 features a specialised Gough Engineering guarding package designed to ISO’s requirements. This includes an ISO-designed, Gough Engineering-produced modified boom and dipper arm. It also features bolt-on guarding including ROPS that will be utilised over the life of more than one machine.”

Its early days for the first 315DL at ISO Limited, but early indications are good that these Cat excavators will be a productive choice and ensure those export logs quickly head for the high seas and our offshore markets.

Machine sold by Wayne Baker from Goughs