Taranaki contractor Chris Wise puts plenty of faith in Hyundai construction equipment and the company that backs it wherever it might be working
Whether on the ground or (momentarily) up in the air, Taranaki contractor Chris Wise puts plenty of faith in Hyundai construction equipment and the company that backs it wherever it might be working, Porter Equipment
It makes for quite a startling sight if you’ve not seen it before. Sitting loftily above the dense forest, a bright orange steel tower comes into view as you near the crest of the sinewy climb up the northern side of Mount Messenger, 40 minutes north of New Plymouth. It’s a remarkable piece of human engineering in a wild and mountainous setting.
With the precipitous gradient of the surrounding landscape in mind, the 28-metre-high tower is a necessary piece of infrastructure for the teams working here, on Te Ara o Te Ata, the Mount Messenger Bypass.
The new route will take motorists on SH3 past the current steep and winding road up and over Mount Messenger, and instead around the eastern side of it, across two new bridges and through a new 235-metre tunnel. The Bypass, when completed, will be made up of six kilometres of new road, but that road, in this terrain, certainly is hard fought and won. That’s where the giant tower and cableway attached to it come in.
“To get our excavators down to the gully floor, they get ferried in on the cableway,” says Chris Wise of Chris Wise Contracting. “It’s a 600-metre trip down the wire and then the machines are dropped straight down and onto the floor. It’s really tight down there, so you need a machine that’s not too big.”
The crane is good for a 20-tonne lift, so Chris’ Hyundai HX145CR — at 14.6 tonnes — is well within those parameters.
“Although with a blade and guarding onboard, it’s probably closer to 17 tonnes in weight,” he says.
Based just north of Mount Messenger at Mokau on the Taranaki coast, Chris and his machines have been a feature of several larger-scale projects around these parts, including the Awakino Tunnel work undertaken by Fulton Hogan. While the downturn in farming hasn’t helped the rural contracting side of his operation, continued contract work for Fulton Hogan, Inframax Construction, First Gas, and now the Bypass, means Chris’ two Hyundai HX145CR crawler excavators are kept busy.
Right: The crane is good for a 20T lift, so the HX145CR — at 14.6T — is well within those parameters
Additionally, he operates a brown rock quarry inland from Mokau: it’s small, but the material he extracts here is crucial for base pad construction along the new route at Mount Messenger.
“Our diggers are on drainage at the Bypass. Once we’ve finished there, they’ll bring the bigger machines in to start the actual road construction. It’s a tough job to be on, but it’s good. We purchased a second Hyundai HX145CR last year, primarily so we can be up there whenever they need us and still operate the quarry.”
The twin 14.6-tonners on the fleet are by no means Chris’ first Hyundais. His first excavator from the Korean manufacturer — a ‘dash 7’ — was purchased 15 years ago, with ‘dash 9’ machines following. His relationship with local Hyundai distributor, Porter Equipment, goes back even further.
“We purchased our first machine from Porters 25 years ago. Since then, I reckon their service has just gotten better and better.”
When it comes to incremental improvements over time, Chris says the same of Hyundai’s excavator technology, reckoning the latest Hyundai HX series excavators reset the bar on what can be expected from modern machines.
“They’re a huge step up. That 360-degree camera system is amazing. You can set it so that an alarm will sound if anyone comes too close to the machine operating perimeter, which is great for safety. But also, the camera system comes in handy when you’re working in a narrow space like we have to up at the Bypass. The last thing you want is to bang your machine up on the rock walls. You have to work very carefully.
“The ergonomics inside the cab are great, too. It’s not the world’s biggest machine, but the cab feels roomy and the air ride seat they use is good, too. You don’t get off the machine at the end of the day feeling knackered.”
Under the durable bodywork, the Hyundai HX series excavators debuted plenty of new and improved features when they arrived on the market, including a new three-stage Variable Power Control system to ensure ideal power delivery in any scenario while also reducing unnecessary fuel burn. The HX series machines also introduced more effective cooling performance by increasing heat dissipation through a single-layer cooling module. Improved airflow through the engine was also achieved with an enlarged air inlet and grill cover.
At the business end, Hyundai introduced a wear-resistant cover plate at the end of the arm to help minimise abrasion on the connector between the arm and the bucket. This also serves to reduce vibrations through the machine. Additionally,
Chris’ Hyundai HX145CRs utilise higher-grade high-pressure hydraulic hoses with improved heat and pressure resistance. It all adds up to a more durable and reliable machine.
Should anything out of the ordinary be required though, Chris says the Porter Equipment Taranaki service team, headquartered an hour away in New Plymouth, has been quick to respond. When it comes to scheduled servicing, he says they will always work in with operations to make sure the excavator being serviced isn’t sitting idle when it should be busy somewhere else.
“James [Adlington, Porter Equipment territory manager] has been very, very good. One phone call and he’ll be on it, whether you need something on a machine sorted, or you’re just after a quote for some new bucket teeth or whatever.”
Another example of Porter Equipment’s ability to get the right solution for the moment recently arrived in the shape of a second-hand Hyundai HL740 wheel loader Chris purchased for the quarry.
“We didn’t want to go the whole hog and buy a new machine, but obviously with two trucks working in tandem all day long carting rock out of here, we still wanted something very reliable. James sourced the HL740 for us in no time at all. It had 5000 hours on it when it arrived, and he even delivered it with new tyres on. It was amazingly good value for money, so we couldn’t let that one slip by.”
Whether new or used, up in the air (momentarily) or hard at work on the ground, between Hyundai and Porter Equipment, it would seem Chris Wise Contracting has its machinery needs fully sorted.
Images by Cameron Officer