The new joint venture, called National Tracked Dumper Hire (NTD), has invested £4m in a fleet of 40 units. The fleet includes the Morooka MST 300 VDR and MST 1500 VD and the Hitachi EG 70R and EG 110R.
NTD has also taken delivery of nine of the first slewing tracked dumpers manufactured in the world since 2010.
NTD senior managers visited Morooka in Japan with the UK dealer Cuatrac to help influence them to introduce a new slewing model. During the visit, NTD ordered nine units to be delivered in the first half of 2015 to give Morooka the confidence to develop the product. This is the MST 2200 VDR that was launched at the Intermat trade fair in Paris earlier this year.
NTD has a list of goals that include offering machines with latest low-emission, fuel-efficient engines and with biodegradable hydraulic oil as standard. Â Offering fully rotating or slew skip bodies across the fleet is also a calculated environmental selling point.
NTD also aims to offer safer machines than its competitors by exceeding both the manufacturers’ and current legislative conformity. Its machines all have a ‘dead man’s’ isolating device to isolate the hydraulics. Machines cannot be moved unless the operator has the seatbelt fastened. And all are fitted with 360 degree or reversing cameras and side mirrors, as appropriate.
Two Morooka MST 1500VD dumpers supplied low density boards have recently been helping to dredge a fishing lake in West Sussex. The machines are able to carry twice as much wet dredging as traditional tracked dumpers due to the low density boards and powered tailgates, as shown in the video below.
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