In order to cope with the growth in volume in Maputo Port, a fleet of twelve new Liebherr pay loaders has been ordered. The first one will arrive in December and the remaining 11 between January and February 2013. The new machines will allow reduction of the truck turn-around time, improvement of vessel productivity (with no disruption between stockpile and vessel) and also improvement of stockpile management.
“Pay loaders are our bread and butter machines”, explained Gerhard Botha, Chief Operations Officer. “In the beggining of 2012 we had only a fleet of 8 payloaders and two of them were scrapped, leaving us with a balance of 6 and, hence, low availability”. “With the growth in volume, we always had to hire from local suppliers”, he added. The new fleet of pay loaders guarantees a minimum availability to serve operations requirements.
This is one of the biggest investments in equipment replacement in all of MPDC’s history. The machines are being acquired from Choice Diesel Lda., a locally appointed distributor and service dealer for Liebherr Africa, who was awarded the contract by a public tender. The order includes a full maintenance contract inclusive of spares supply and an extended warranty.
Full evaluation and training of operators will ensure competent operation of these new machines. In addition to this strategic equipment replacement program, MPDC has hired 20 new operators who are currently being trained and who will be certified to operate diverse operational equipment.
Furthermore, additional investment in strategic equipment is planned for 2013, such as grabs, conveyor-belt systems, RAM revolver loading systems and forklifts.
