After purchasing his first
“The Volvo ADT is second to none on the market today in my opinion and all the trucks I’ve ever run have proved themselves over and over again in terms of reliability, productivity and fuel savings,” says Ward. “And it’s like anything else: if you look after your kit, then it’ll look after you, and we’ve got some of our trucks which have achieved over 16000 hours on original engines,” he adds.
The latest A30G’s join a fleet of 36 Volvo haulers, predominantly made up of the A30 sized truck. “Whilst we still run A35’s and A40’s, the optimum sized for general hire is the A30, hence the reason for adding three more to the fleet,” continues Ward. “They really are the best there is out there, but that’s not all. We enjoy an excellent level of service from Volvo when we do get the occasional issues, and the trucks have an excellent residual value.”
The new trucks have been deployed on a number of large infrastructure projects currently taking place in Scotland, such as the major earthworks contract the Ward Group has picked up on the A9 development near Aviemore, and hire work on the M8/M73/M74 widening scheme.
The A30G hauler from Volvo meets the requirements of Stage IV final emissions legislation, being powered by an electronically controlled, six-cylinder 264kW turbo charged Volvo V-ACT diesel engine. This features high torque at low engine speeds resulting in good fuel efficiency, high performance, quicker engine response and less wear. Purpose built by Volvo, the engine is designed to exactly match the Volvo drive train, ensuring the best use of power and torque, even in tough working conditions. Delivering exceptional fuel efficiency, the engine is matched to a torque converter with built in lock-up function and fitted with a fully automatic fast adaptive transmission. The rest of the Volvo designed and built powertrain has been reinforced to cope with the higher torque output of the engine.
With a carrying capacity of 28tonnes and heaped capacity of 17.5m³, the Volvo A30G has a maximum speed of 53kph. The hauler is also fitted with CareTrack as standard, Volvo’s telematics system that enables remote monitoring of a wide range of machine functions (e.g. location, fuel consumption, service reminders etc.), thus optimising customer operations.
Established back in 1973, Ward Plant Limited has grown to the position it holds today as a renowned, reliable and trusted hirer of earthmoving plant and equipment all over Northern England and Scotland. With over 80 items of large earthmoving plant and equipment for hire, such as dozers, dump trucks, excavators, loading shovels, self- propelled and towed compaction rollers, hydraulic hammers, grapples and pulverisers, the company more recently added jaw and cone crushers and screens to the fleet, so a contractor can one stop shop at Ward Plant. Sister company Martyn Ward Plant Limited was formed in 1990 to carry out earthworks, drainage, and crushing and screening contracts throughout Scotland and Northern England.
Volvo Construction Equipment markets wheeled loaders, articulated haulers, hydraulic excavators, Volvo utility equipment and Volvo road equipment products in Great Britain. There are eight strategically placed customer support centres and a network of utility equipment dealers to ensure high quality customer support is maintained throughout the country.
