Go north of the border and one sector that’s growing in every sense is forestry. Add to that the Scottish government’s ambitious woodland creation targets, and you have an industry that is poised for investment, and agricultural and forestry contracting company, Robertson Fencing is well-placed to take advantage. Based in Pitlochry in Highland Perthshire, the company works with forestry companies, land managers and highland estates, with woodland creation and establishment works its speciality.
In the last three years, the contractor has taken delivery of eight new Doosan excavators from Balgownie, the local Authorised Doosan Dealer, based at Inverurie in Aberdeenshire. The new Doosan excavators include two DX160LC-5 HT 16 tonne high track crawler excavators, five DX140LC-5 14 tonne crawler excavators and a DX63-3 6 tonne mini-excavator. The arrival of the new Doosan excavators, doubling the fleet of crawler excavators, has helped Robertson Fencing to continue to expand.
Excellence All Round
“The first Doosan machine we purchased was a DX140LC-5 recommended by David Moir at Balgownie,” explains Managing Director, Rab Robertson, “and the excellent performance of this machine convinced us to purchase the rest. In doing so, we have not only switched our favoured brand to Doosan, we have changed from a dealer that was 25 minutes away to one that is two hours away, but Balgownie more than makes up for it in terms of support for our business – I have never seen quality service and back-up like that offered by Balgownie – it is amazing!”
The high performance of the DX140LC-5 crawler excavator includes a 5 per cent increase in engine power and 4 per cent greater torque over the previous version of this machine. In addition, traction has been boosted with an increase in drawbar pull of about 18 per cent and front lifting capacity has been increased on average by 10 per cent and side capacities are 12.5 per cent higher. Complementing these figures, the fuel consumption in the DX140LC-5 has been lowered by 3 per cent compared to the previous generation excavator.
The continuing expansion into the forestry ground preparation sector at Robertson Fencing provides a perfect fit to complement the company’s established fencing operations, providing customers with a truly turnkey choice when appointing contractors for forestry establishment projects.
Continues Rab: “Our operators have been impressed by the comfort and reliability of all of the excavators. The new Doosan High Track excavators offer a specialised design for the forestry industry with a high ground clearance and a bigger, stronger undercarriage. They have been outstanding in our work in restock mounding for clients like Forestry and Land Scotland, RTS Forestry, Tilhill and Scottish Woodlands.”
The DX160LC-5 HT excavator combines the upper structure from the DX140LC-5 with a heavier-duty 18 tonne class high track undercarriage, increasing the ground clearance from 410mm in the DX140LC-5 to an impressive 615mm. In its standard configuration, the digging depth is 5,355 mm, the digging height is 8,940 mm and the digging reach is 8,080 mm.
Doosan also offers the larger DX180LC-5 HT High Track model, which is an enhanced version of the company’s DX180LC-5 excavator, incorporating a reinforced structure and a carefully re-engineered, high performance braking system, offering the same ground clearance of 615 mm as the DX160LC-5 HT, compared to 460mm in the standard DX180LC-5.
The Doosan High Track models are designed to meet the needs of customers requiring a combination of higher ground clearance, a reinforced track frame and a strong traction system with reinforced upper rollers for work in harsh environments and on projects where larger travelling distances are involved. The High Track models are particularly suited for constructing roadways, mounding, and earthmoving, where the higher ground clearance, durable travelling system and the traction force allow them to move with ease over rough terrain, negotiate obstacles, such as fallen tree trunks, and to pull trailers loaded with wood.
The DX160LC-5 HT and DX180LC-5 HT are powered by the Perkins 1204F engine, which combines reduced fuel consumption with the power and torque of larger engines with a smaller displacement. The Perkins 1204F engine provides an output of 81.6 kW (109 HP) and 94.9 kW (127 HP) at 2000 rpm, respectively, in the DX160LC-5 HT and DX180LC-5 HT.
Doosan Dealer for the North of Scotland
Balgownie is responsible for sales and servicing of the Doosan crawler, wheeled and mini/midi excavator, wheel loader and articulated dump truck ranges in Perthshire and Kinross-shire, Aberdeenshire, Morayshire, Angus, Fife, the Highlands and the Scottish islands.
