Queensland trenchless contractor, Safe Dig Services has added two new vacuum excavation trucks to its growing fleet.
The Cappellotto hydro excavation units, supplied by KOR Equipment Solutions, are already active on a new five-year contract that commenced earlier in the month.
The project will cover the Brisbane, Ipswich, Somerset, Scenic Rim and Lockyer Valley regions.
To keep up with growing demand, the business has taken delivery of a 10.000-litre unit and an 8,000-litre truck.
It’s a substantial upgrade on their previous heavy vehicles.
“The contract we’re doing is for urban utilities, so we needed to invest in a larger vehicle in order to dig the bigger holes required on water repairs,” said Operations Manager, Robbie Rutledge.
“We’ve upsized the boom as well moving to an 8-inch which will help us dig the holes as quickly as possible.
“The size of the trucks improves our efficiency. The longer we can avoid dumping the more time we have working for the customer on site.”
The 8-inch boom on the 10,000-litre truck tops out at 3800cfm, making it the first boom in the fleet spec’d to this volumetric flow rate.
“The majority of the other trucks in the fleet sit around 2400 or 2500cfm – so this is a major upgrade for us,” said Rutledge.
Rutledge said the Cappellotto hydro excavation units make for a good first impression on site.
“We have heard really good things about them from other people we know who use them daily,” he told Trenchless Australasia.
“They’re very shiny and look something like a spaceship. They look very impressive when you see them coming down the road.
“It represents a next step up for us.”
The business, which specialises in vacuum excavation, pipe clearing, underground service location and other civil services, now has over 40 trucks in Queensland across four sites.
These include Brisbane and Yatala and those of its sister company Hydro Excavate in Rockhampton and Mackay.
Both businesses are owned by parent Southern Cross Industrial Group.
It acquired Safe Dig Services back in 2022.
The mobile assets in the fleet, which also features jetter combination units and water trucks, are complemented by excavators, skid steers and CCTV systems.
These Cappellotto hydro vacuum assets are the first trucks Safe Dig Services has had supplied by KOR Equipment Solutions.
“Everything has been really easy. The process has been smooth from the moment we agreed to purchasing the vehicles.”
“It took only two weeks to the handover.”
Safe Dig Services was founded in 1994. Rutledge has been with the company for 14 years. In that time period it has experienced significant growth he said.
“When I came into the office, around eight years ago we only had four trucks in our Brisbane depot.
“One of the key decisions internally for us has been moving our systems online from prestarts, risk assessments, safety checks.
“The workflow since then has been momentous for us.”