Scania’s 4x4 mine-specification XT built to last

Perth-based Premium Plant Hire has been built on the promise of a premium service and premium products that can be dry hired to the mining industry.

Managing Director Russell Wells says he has been buying Scania 8x4 workhorses for several years to hire out to mine operators as service vehicles, effectively keeping the big machinery running.

That lifeblood is now enhanced with the arrival of the first of four new Scania P 280 4x4 XT rigids; three destined to be fitted with water cart bodies and one to be configured as a service truck.

Russell started Premium Plant Hire in 2012, after a career in mining, initially as a heavy-duty diesel mechanic. He worked for mining industry original equipment manufacturers before moving into sales and then rental.

Seeing a gap in the market after noting how some hire companies sent equipment to site that was unreliable, or not fit for purpose, prompted the creation of Premium Plant Hire, aiming to specialise in premium equipment that’s mine compliant, well maintained and reliable.

“Our business started off in plant hire and that’s still our core business, but we moved successfully into bodybuilding. We have been very happy with Scania for bigger service trucks.

"We have about 80 vehicles hired out in total, and over the years we have built more than 200 body modules for the rental fleet and our customers. Now we’re moving to Scania for smaller trucks based on the success we have had with the 8x4s,” he says.

The Scania 4x4 is the smallest of the Scania off-road all-wheel drive platforms, with 6x6 and 8x8 more familiar sights across the Australian mining landscape.

“We run a lot of Scania 8x4s G 410s and G 420 XTs, probably between 30 and 40 of them,” Russell says.

“They are in service hired out across Australia. The 4x4 is going to be a new product line for us from Scania, compared with what we have traditionally used.

“The new P 280 4x4s will be doing a very special application as water carts up in the Pilbara, filling up the drills which are always in very hard-to-access areas, so all-wheel drive is critical.

"Most bodybuilders use 6x4 platforms for water carts, but I don't think I've seen a 4x4 water truck before. We achieved 11,000 litres on the 4x4 Scania, which is right on the heels of any 6x4. The main advantage is the ability to traverse difficult terrain safely."

Russell says his Scania trucks are "probably the best advertisement for Scania in the whole of Australia when it comes to operating in adverse environments".

“We had a Scania 8x4 at Koolan Island, off the coast north of Derby, for two or more years. Basically, they are operating in salt water the whole time, and yet when we got the truck back and sent it through the workshop it was amazing how well the Scania stood up to the highly corrosive conditions.

"That truck three years later is still a strong performer in our rental fleet. We've got Scanias operating around Kambalda in the Goldfields. They're working in water that is seven times saltier than seawater. It's an extremely corrosive site. The Scanias have stood up pretty well to that, too."

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