Howard Plant Hire invests in Volvo CE excavators

UK-based rental company Howard Plant Hire has expanded its fleet with 21 Volvo CE excavators in a €1.9 million deal.

The Leeds-based company, a sister firm to Howard Civil Engineering, placed the order for machines ranging from 2.7 tonnes up to 28 tonnes in operating weight. Volvo CE said the order was awarded following a competitive tender process and an appraisal of the proposed machines’ life time operating costs.

Howard Plant operating manager Brain Sharkey said, “The Volvo machines weren’t the cheapest we looked at but in our opinion offered us the best value for money in terms of their anticipated fuel economy, general running costs and not least, their exceptional predicted residual values.

“Furthermore, opting for a premium brand of machine which has the very latest in engine technology, emissions and other technical advantages sits very comfortably with the image we wish to portray to the market and our client base.”

Machines purchased an EC27C, two 5 tonne EC50D’s and four ECR88D reduced swing compact machines. Their larger brothers include three ECR145E reduced swing excavators, two EC140E’s, two EC160E’s, five 22 tonne EC220E’s and two EC250E’s.

The new machines join four existing Volvo excavators purchased late in 2014 and an older 16 tonne EC160C making Howard Plant Hire’s fleet of excavators predominantly of Volvo stock. In addition, the company recently acquired two articulated haulers in the form of an A25D and an A40D.

External rental

As Howard Plant Hire continues to expand and as part of a long range development strategy, it said it had taken the opportunity to extend its offering to external rental besides continuing to service the needs of its sister company.

“The addition of the new Volvo excavators to our fleet heralds the start of this process and other items of construction equipment will quickly follow such a crawler dozers, tele-handlers and certainly more excavators,” said Mr Sharkey.

All of the new excavators are covered by Volvo’s Blue service agreements ensuring they will be correctly serviced by qualified Volvo service technicians using genuine Volvo Parts.

“The fact we can rely on Volvo to ensure the machines get regularly maintained and are being continuously monitored in general thanks to the Caretrack telematics system, gives us a significant peace of mind and will be a great asset in helping us manage the fleet,” Mr Sharkey said.