Dutch contractor Van den Heuvel has taken delivery of a new Bobcat T40.180SLP telehandler at Tata Steel's IJmuiden Works, located on the North Sea Coast of the Netherlands. 

Finished in Van den Heuvel colours, the T40.180SLP has been supplied with a Bobcat man platform attachment that is widely used in the work the company carries out at the site. 

In addition to some loading and unloading work, the telehandler in combination with the man platform is mainly used for measuring and inspecting pipeline networks, but also for installation, repair, welding and maintenance work at height. 

The new machine has replaced the company’s previous telehandler that had reached a respectable age of 21 and was starting to show its age. 

“In the end, we opted for the compact T40.180SLP from Bobcat; mainly because of the lifting capacity, the lifting height of 18 m, the functionality, the man platform and the ease of maintenance. The excellent stability, thanks to the low centre of gravity, long wheelbase, heavy counterweight, balanced weight distribution and outriggers, was also of great importance to us, because people regularly work on the platform. All these aspects were included in the programme of requirements,” explains Marco Bervoets, who was responsible for purchasing the new machine as Manager of the Support Office at Van den Heuvel. 

The company has its own equipment department and owns all the machines in its fleet. This is a conscious choice to give the machines their own identity and recognisability and to be flexible when planning and transporting machines. 

Van den Heuvel is a preferred supplier of Tata Steel. Like the other 11 contracting companies that operate at the steel works, Van den Heuvel has its own facility in the 'contractor park' on the site. Home to a staff of 12 employees, the Van den Heuvel facility includes an office unit, a workshop and outbuildings for the storage of machines and materials. This temporary location offers considerable logistical advantages, because the Tata Steel site near IJmuiden has an area of more than 750 ha and is located in an economically important, busy and sometimes difficult to reach region. 

Van den Heuvel is a Dutch family business that specialises in designing, organising and executing infrastructure works for water, energy and telecommunications. The company, which has 10 branches and more than 700 employees, provides design, advice and implementation of the underground and above-ground laying of cables and pipelines and the underground construction of sewerage, pressure pipes, earth and street works and related civil engineering projects and soil remediation.