Dockside Tractors. | 08th March 10

Most tractors come via the docks to farmers fields across the UK but this pair of John Deere 8530 tractors are based at Felixstowe docks helping to build a new container port. The tractors from Farol Ltd are hired via Ace Plant of Milton Keynes to Costain Ltd, on a 2 year contract with full service and Powergard Protection.

"The project is to construct 730m of deep water quay to accommodate the new generation of Panamax container ships that are currently being brought into service throughout the world. The project started in May 2008 and is due to finish Christmas 2010 The port requires this development to maintain its position as the number one container terminal in the UK. The project consists of constructing a quay wall from 2.56m diameter, 55 tonne tubular piles that are 40m long all installed from floating crane barges. On top of the piles a concrete capping beam is constructed using 277 pre cast concrete units that start at 26 tonnes and go up to 87 tonnes, the pre cast units are then filled with in-situ concrete amounting to 3700m3. The new quay edge is 200m further out into river mouth from the original berth, this has involved dredging 1 million cubic metres of unsuitable silt material and importing by sea 3 million cubic metres of sand fill that has been obtain from various win areas around the East Anglia coast. In addition there will be 6km of drainage laid and the entire site of 33 hectares will be paved resulting in 18 millions block pavers being laid.

The two JD 8530's with fully ballast package that we hired have been used to tow the various trailer configurations that we developed to move around the different heavy and abnormal loads that are involved with in a project of this size. These consist of pre cast concrete quay wall and drainage elements that vary from 26 tonnes to 87 tonnes, tubular piles up to 55 tonnes, sheet piles, anchor tie rods, and a number of heavy piling hammers and temporary works installations.

I decided on the John Deere machines because of the reputation the machines have within the agricultural industry for quality and reliability, a project of this size never sleeps and work is ongoing 24 hours a day so we need to know that the equipment we use can be relied on when required. The 8530 model was selected for the power mainly and has been more than capable of the tasks required of it. The only time the tractors get stuck in the sand is when the ground underneath breaks up, the wheels always keep turning.

The tractors are used in the construction of the docks as they give us the flexibility to be able to access all areas of the site, on and off road where traditional heavy haulage low loader vehicles would not be able to access. In addition the purchase of the trailers and weekly hire cost of the machines with the operator cost is significantly cheaper than hiring in various configurations of heavy haulage road vehicles that would be needed on a daily basis.

The tractors started on the project around Christmas 2008 and we will be keeping one till June / July 2010 and the other till the end of the project. The tractors are used regularly throughout the day, we encourage the drivers to turn off the machines while waiting to be loaded or unloaded to save fuel as part of our environmental commitment to reduce our carbon footprint.

Costain Ltd are international civil engineering and construction company that have been operating for 140 years. They operate in various sectors in addition to marine which include water, rail, highways, health, education, retail, nuclear, energy & process, property and airports. I would envisage that we will be using John Deere tractors on various future projects because of the flexibility and performance they have added to our construction plant on this project"

Michael Rimmer - Costain Ltd