Big deals done at Glensanda

YEOMAN Glensanda, part of Aggregate Industries, have agreed a six-year materials-handling deal with Alfred McAlpine Plant Services involving the delivery of a fleet of 12 new large quarrying machines, plus support equipment, to load and haul a minimum of 7 million tonnes of hard rock annually at Glensanda Quarry on Loch Linnhe, near Oban, in western Scotland.

Replacing Yeoman Glensanda’s old fleet for new, the 800-tonne consignment, comprising two Caterpillar 992 loading shovels, eight Cat 777 dumptrucks, one Cat D9 dozer and one Komatsu PC1250 hydraulic excavator, was transported by low-loader to Troon, in Ayrshire, and then by ferry to Oban. From here the units were shipped to the quarry in pairs using Yeoman Glensanda’s own 430-tonne barge, the Rose of Lorne, an operation that took four days to complete.

Throughout the term of the six-year contract, Alfred McAlpine will maintain the new equipment on site, with specialist support from the Perth depot of local Caterpillar dealers Finning. Under TUPE regulations, 38 of Aggregate Industries’ employees have transferred over to Alfred McAlpine.

Meanwhile, in a separate deal, Aggregate Industries have awarded Glasgow-based Ritchies, the specialist geotechnical division of Edmund Nuttall Ltd, a five-year contract worth approximately £10 million for drilling and blasting operations at Glensanda.

Ritchies, the UK largest drilling and blasting contractor having recently reached the milestone of over 500 million tonnes of rock blasted since they started in business in 1966, say the Glensanda award is their largest contract of its kind to date.