Keeping dirt on the ground where it belongs is all in a day’s work for the fleet of Isuzu water trucks operated by Laing O’Rourke off-shoot Select Plant Australia
Across a range of large-scale construction sites in Sydney and Melbourne being developed by Laing O’Rourke, Isuzu FVR 165-300 and FXZ 240-350 trucks with 7,000 litre and 14,000 litre water tanks respectively, are doing their bit to keep conditions comfortable.
Select business unit leader Nathan Mitschuinig says the company added eight FVR and eight FXZ models to its fleet this year to assist with projects including the new home for maintenance of Sydney’s train fleet.
It’s parent company, Laing O’Rourke, currently has more than 35 infrastructure projects being delivered around the country, predominantly in rail, defence and roads.
Select supplies plant and equipment and industrial transportation services to Laing O’Rourke as well as other construction, infrastructure and utility companies, and works on a range of large-scale projects.
“Our fleet is growing weekly as the demand for plant and equipment increases in the construction sector,” Mitschuinig says.
“We also regularly renew our plant and equipment with a scheduled program to manage the units that we change-over each year.
“We like to keep our range up to date with the latest tech and sustainability options on the market.”
Both the FXZ 240-350 and FVR 165-300 models have a range of safety features, including anti-lock braking systems (ABS), driver airbags and low light capable reversing cameras.
The FVRs also have anti-skid regulators (ASR), electronic stability control (ESC), electronic braking systems (EBS) and cab tilt warning (CTW).
Select has 60 Isuzu vehicles in its fleet, including 10 new NNR 45-150 Traypack Crewcab models, as well as tippers, crane trucks, fuel trucks and hi-rail trucks, which are capable of operating on highways and railroad tracks.
Mitschuinig says Select chose Isuzu products because they met the productivity and safety requirements of their customers.
“Our clients are based all over the country from big cities to more remote places like the Pilbara in Western Australia,” Mitschuinig says.
He says one of the favourite features of the Isuzu trucks was the comfort of the cabin, especially the air-ride seats.
“We also love the safety feature of the reverse camera,” he says.
As well as dust suppression, Select Plant Australia logistics project manager Daniel Kelly says the Isuzu water tankers are used for wetting materials prior to compaction and to wash and clean roads in and around the site.
Select, which was originally set up as in internal plant hire company in the United Kingdom for Laing O’Rourke, celebrated its 15th year of operations in Australia in November 2022.
The company was originally set up in the United Kingdom as an internal plant hire company for the $6bn global construction and engineering company Laing O’Rourke.
Looking forward, Mitschuinig says the future growth of Australia’s plant and equipment hire sector will involve sustainability and innovation and a move to more environmentally friendly solutions.