Scout jamboree leads to huge order for JCB
Creation of massive scout camp in Sweden results in multi-million pound order for JCB machines
SCOUTING leaders lived up to their motto of being prepared by deploying 80 JCB machines to build and operate a massive campsite at a world jamboree for 40,000 participants.
JCB won a multi-million pound order from their Swedish dealers, Soderberg & Haak Maskin AB, for a fleet of wheel loaders, telescopic handlers, a backhoe loader, a wheeled excavator and 60 Workmax utility vehicles (UTVs).
The machines were used initially for the construction of the vast campsite for the 22nd World Scouting Jamboree, in Rinkaby, Sweden. The Workmax UTVs then played a major role for the duration of the event, carrying people and materials around the site, with some even being converted into fire tenders complete with emergency medical equipment and 12 fire extinguishers on board.
In the aftermath of the Jamboree, the whole fleet of JCB machines helped to remove the infrastructure that was put in place for the event.
Thomas Svensson, CEO, of Soderberg & Haak Maskin AB, said: ‘This was a very successful partnership and all the machines performed very well and helped towards the success of the World Scouting Jamboree.
The highly visible role of the JCB Workmax machines, in particular, throughout the jamboree has helped put that product on the map in Sweden and really raised its profile here.’
More than 40,000 scouts from all over the world attended the Jamboree, which was eight years in the planning.
World Scout event logistics manager Magnus Pehrsson said: ‘The JCB Workmax has been used for all types of work, such as personnel transportation, fire and rescue equipment, and service patrols for water and electricity supplies.
‘The big benefit with the Workmax is that it is pretty small and easy to drive on the site. We needed a vehicle that could handle the field conditions. It is also very good to have a small trailer to carry all the materials and tools that you need during the day.’
A total of 30 of the fleet were factory-fitted with a special design of seat on the cargo deck to allow up to six people on each vehicle to be transported around site, while about 20 worked with trailers as waste-collection vehicles for general waste and wheelie bin replacement.
All the Workmax vehicles were the newly launched 4x4 model 800 D with an load-carrying capacity of 600kg.
