JCB machines hit right note

Eight JS200 excavators for major highway extension project on calypso island of Trinidad and Tobago

A FLEET of eight 20-tonne JS200 crawler excavators has been bought by a construction company and put to work one of the biggest-ever highway projects in the Caribbean.

Construction company Construtura OAS has purchased the machines and pressed them into service on the US$7.5 billion Solomon Hochoy highway extension project in Trinidad and Tobago. They have been bought from JCB’s distributor in Trinidad and Tobago, FT Farfan.

The customer, a division of the OAS Group, has a fleet of more than 150 JCB machines in its domestic market of Brazil, and the level of service and back-up provided by JCB and their dealer network is said to have played an important role in this latest purchase.

Construtura OAS have been awarded several sections of the highway contract and the company decided that because the contract was due to last for around five years, it was more economical to purchase equipment outright rather than to hire in excavators from local companies.

JCB Dealer FT Farfan, a member of the Bryden Group, has supplied the fleet with full service contracts for the first three years of ownership. Farfan will provide OAS with round-the-clock emergency support, as well as carrying out all regular maintenance on the contract.

The Solomon Hochoy highway is the major north-south highway in Trinidad and Tobago, connecting Chaguanas with San Fernando. Originally built as a two-lane road in the early 1970s, it was expanded to a four-lane highway later in the decade. The Ministry of Works and Transport is now undertaking the project to extend the road to Point Fortin.