Cat conquers desert life

Cat Trucks is helping a remote outback earthmoving business service its clients and overcome some incredibly harsh conditions

A thriving outback earthmoving business needs reliable, dependable transport – and that's where Cat Trucks is making its mark for Neil Dunn (pictured), founder and managing director of Dunns Earthmoving.

Based around 100 kilometres west of Moomba, in South Australia's oil- and gas-rich Cooper Basin, Dunns Earthmoving services two major mining firms and conducts its business in some of the harshest conditions on the planet, where temperatures can drop to below zero in winter and soar as high as 50 degree Celsius in summer.

After humble beginnings in 2003 as a two-man operation with second-hand equipment, Dunns Earthmoving now employs over 100 people and deploys a wide variety of heavy equipment to remote locations throughout South Australia's far-flung north-east.

The company's inventory including bulldozes, graders, scrapers and skid steers, among others.

The firm specialises in remote area earthworks and road works, maintaining existing roads and also constructing new ones.

Dunns purchased its first Cat, a CT630 day cab, in early 2013. That truck has since been joined by three CT630LS models. The trucks haul a variety of trailers, including low loaders and water tankers.

Mr Dunn says the Cats are proving their value over some particularly unforgiving terrain.

"They're all doing pretty good," he says.

"They’re at work every day and while ever they're doing that, I don't have much to complain about.

"It's not easy out here. Road conditions are the killer and it doesn't matter what brand of truck or machine it is, something breaks eventually. We expect it. What's important is that it doesn't keep breaking."

Mr Dunn says the trucks wouldn't get a second change if they weren't up to the task.

"There's no doubt about it," he says.

"They wouldn't be here if they weren't doing the job."

Cat conquers desert life

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