The leading Portuguese contractor Mota-Engil Group entered into the contract for construction of the 270 km long Douro Interior highway – one of the longest highways in the north-eastern part of the country. One third of the works will be performed by subcontractors. The most critical operations will be performed by Mota-Engil’s own efforts. These operations include excavation works with the volume exceeding 20 mln. m3 of soil, construction of 1100 km of drainage systems and paving of more than 1 mln. t of coated macadam. As part of the project, approx. 145 aboveground and underground passages, 30 bridges and overhead crossings, and one tunnel in Bornes will be constructed. In addition, the project involves construction of 28 junctions with local highways, to integrate the new highway into the existing infrastructure.
In search for a solution for heavy duty excavation works, Mota-Engil referred to a Portuguses dealer of Cat –Barloworld STET company. Instead of solving each individual problem, they decided to use a complex solution, which was fully compliant with their financial possibilities, objectives and requirements. The Solution 360 included new and used machines, attachments, services and financial solutions – all within one suite, which was fully compliant with the customer’s requirements and budget.
Consequently, a contract was made for supply of more than 40 Cat machines – five medim duty hydraulic excavators (Cat 323D, 336D LME) and three heavy duty hydraulic excavators (345D LME and 365C LME), five CS76 XT soil compactors, five caterpillar tractors (D6T and D5K), six 730 articulated dump trucks, two 772 off-road dump trucks and other machines. Apart from new machines the supplied equipment includes seven used 740 articulated dump trucks and two used D8T caterpillar tractors. All these machines are certified used Cat equipment and are covered by its warranty.
Moreover, the solution turned out to be exactly the solution that the contractor sought, thanks to the advantages of the financial model offered.
