With the acquisition of Perth Waste in June last year, Suez shows no signs of slowing down.
To support its ambitious growth objectives, it relies heavily on its fleet of collection vehicles that were specifically designed for the efficient and safe transport of waste materials between Western Australian sites. Most recently, the fleet has been bolstered with a $3.5 million investment in Azmeb’s High Volume Side Tippers, which Suez’ WA State Equipment Manager, Peter Spight, considers ideal to navigate the difficult terrain and lengthy hauls native to the WA countryside.
“The company was successfully operating these trailers in Cairns,” says Spight, who has been responsible for the purchase of company equipment for over five years. “We collected and viewed the data on the efficiency of the units and bought our first two units in 2013. The quick tip time over our current moving floor fleet and the much lower maintenance were the two key factors in our decision to go with Azmeb.”
Azmeb’s one-of-a-kind tippers can unload up to 10 times faster than traditional moving floor trailers, offering major productivity gains for companies like Suez. The units feature hinged upper bodies which effectively double their volumetric capacity with little increase in tare weight, while their simplified designs require half the maintenance of its moving floor counterparts, according to Azmeb.
Spight says the purchase was approved on a tonnes-per-dollar basis, taking into account costs, maintenance, depreciation and purchase price. When compared to compaction and moving floor trailers, Azmeb’s side tippers came out on top over a seven-year period. “Particularly when considering unloading times, maintenance costs and capital outlay the side tippers ticked all the right boxes,” he explains.
Suez’s new fleet of 14 side tippers, operational since October 2016, are primarily responsible for transporting commercial and household waste from WA Landfill Services’ transfer station in Welshpool to landfill in North Bannister – a 130km trek. The side tippers run in a pocket road train configuration, consisting of seven units each hosting two trailers and a dolly.
Quick tipping times result in less time spent by the road trains at the landfill site, Spight adds, with the fleet managing up to three trips and carting 120 tonnes of waste per day. Further, after identifying that the mix of product was changing towards lower tare industrial and construction waste, Suez was able to specify larger capacity tubs on the new trailers.
The new WA Landfill Services trailers have a total volume of 69m3 compared to the previous trailers, which measured 63m3 – a 9.5 per cent jump in capacity which has helped Suez increase its payload and returns.
To read more, see page 46 of Issue 10.