Karratha-based San Remo Plant Hire which has just changed its name to Karratha Plant Hire to better reflect its area of operations has had a fleet of Komatsu excavators including a PC200-6 which is coming up to 20,000 hours working on the recently
Karratha Plant Hire, owned by Phil and Tammie Patterson currently owns six Komatsu excavators, including two PC40MR-2, a PC78MR-6, a PC200-6, a PC200-8 and a PC300-7.
Most of these machines have been working on the LNG project over the past two years, although the company supplies equipment for a wide range of civil construction and earthmoving projects throughout the Pilbara region, said Phil.
Phil bought his first Komatsu excavator the PC200-6 coming up for 20,000 hours in 1999, and has been buying them ever since. His most recent purchase is a PC200-8.
"The performance of our Komatsu excavators has been very good," he said.
"I've been very pleased with their performance, especially my original PC200-6, which has done a lot of rockbreaking and rock excavation work around the Pilbara, and more recently on the LNG project.
"I'm very happy that we've got 20,000 hours out of that machine, and it's still going; if I get that much out of the other ones, I'll be very happy," said Phil.
"Now the old one's mainly just trenching, and it has a rock breaker on it permanently. I'm going to see if I can kill it with a rock breaker!" he said.
Karratha Plant Hire's new PC200-8 is mixing roadbase and loading trucks on Phase V of the LNG project at No Name Creek, with the two PC40MR-2s carrying out camp concreting works and trenching for electrical and other systems at Gap Ridge, just south-east of the peninsula.
The PC300-7 is currently working on the Perth-Bunbury Freeway project south of Perth, while the PC78MR-6 has just come off the Phase V project, where it was doing trenching and drainage works for the past two years.
Phil said he had always been pleased with the support from Komatsu Australia.
"Port Hedland has a good-sized branch and there's two fitters locally at Karratha, who are good young blokes, good fitters," he said.
"Plus, my local sales rep Dean Jones has always been terrific to deal with, and nothing has ever been too much trouble for him except for the time I took him fishing up here, and had to bait his hooks!"
Phil and Tammie started San Remo Plant Hire in 1986, with a skidsteer and tipper, and have built the company up since then.
Today, in addition to their six Komatsu excavators, their fleet includes rollers, water carts, tippers, skidsteers and backhoes.