Totalfert has upgraded to the Hyundai HL960XT loader—boosting efficiency, safety, and reliability
Trevor Palmer, director of Totalfert, has been in the mining, quarrying and fertiliser industries since the early 1980s, when he was employed at the Puketutu Island quarry near Auckland Airport. He’s also been a Porter Hire and Equipment customer for over 35 years.
“We had an extremely efficient clean-fill operation that could stay open through winter, thanks to a few innovations we made at the time,” he says. “We’d have the trucks drive onto metalled area and tip into a trench, which kept things as tidy as possible regardless of the season. We also installed a truck-wash complete with fixed water cannons – the drivers loved that. I reckon half of them just came in the gate to wash their trucks!”
A busy clean-fill, the record was a colossal 620 trucks plus truck and trailers in a single day. The operation needed plenty of reliable machinery, which is where Trevor came into contact with Hyundai distributor, Porter Equipment.
“We hired bulldozers and excavators from Porters; they were an excellent company to deal with. Without them, we would not have managed to run such a smooth and efficient clean-fill. My dealings with Porters initially were only in the hiring of machinery. After leaving the mining game to start my own fertiliser business I was in the market for good, reliable loaders that were well priced, which is where our use of Hyundai machines began.”
The new Hyundai HL960XT is the company’s third Hyundai loader. The first – an older Dash 7 that was traded in for the new arrival – was purchased in 2013 and had racked up well over 8,000 hours by the time Trevor moved it on.
The Hyundai HL757-9, also on the yard, has moved to backline duties but remains a reliable machine, he says. The Hyundai R60CR-9 excavator (also supplied by Porter Equipment) continues to offer Trevor’s team consistently sound operating service.
Totalfert sends product from its base at Maramarua as far away as Gisborne, Taupō and Kaitaia. With customers awaiting product at all ends of the upper North Island, Trevor says being able to process and load efficiently is key.
“It’s hard now to remember a time when we didn’t have a piece of Hyundai equipment on the yard. The reason for that is plain and simple; they’re really good machines and they allow us to do the job without any hiccups.”
While the previous Dash 7 loader had given great service over the years, the move to the bigger 19-tonne Hyundai HL960XT, which has replaced it, is a result of the increase in sales and also the high-sided truck-and-trailer units that are regularly transporting their fertiliser.
“We need the extra reach because the bins on many bulk trucks these days have higher sides,” says Trevor. “The trucks are getting bigger, and obviously, it’s more efficient to utilise their increased volume and weight, so we need to make sure our operation meets our customer and transport contractor’s requirements. Even with the Dash 9 we were finding we needed to use ramps to get the bulk trucks filled, so the new machine is extremely useful having that extra reach”.
The Hyundai HL960XT has Trevor and his team of four covered with a 3.3m₃ bucket capacity, good for approximately five tonne of product with each machine movement.
Bolstering that load capacity, the machine also sports a powerful 210hp (157kW) Hyundai HE6.7 turbo diesel engine. The power unit – which incorporates self-diagnostic software for peace of mind during day-to-day operations – combines a high-pressure common rail system and advanced in-cylinder combustion technology. The result for Trevor and his team is increased power but reduced fuel consumption.
The other aspect Trevor and operator Davinder Singh like about the new loader is the improvements Hyundai has made in the new machine in terms of operator comfort.
“We need the loader to be as robust as possible because we’ll be expecting plenty of hours out of it, like we do with all our Hyundai machinery. But while it’s hard working, it’s also very comfortable to drive.”
The spacious cab of the Hyundai HL960XT features plenty of mod cons, like a fully adjustable seat and armrest, a wide touch screen monitor for all machine information, improved soundproofing and, naturally, excellent vision right around the loader.
To further aid safety, Trevor optioned in Hyundai’s comprehensive Around View Monitoring (AVM) camera system as well. Together with Intelligent Moving Object Detection (IMOD), these systems can detect people or objects close to the machine and warn the driver of their presence. The system shows the loader in its environment in real time, giving the operator a variety of view angles through the monitor – a handy safety tool to have when things are busy in the Totalfert yard.
With no full-time mechanic on staff, Trevor also relies on the in-field back-up support of Porter Equipment for servicing his new machinery.
“It’s a very good service. They just give us a call and lock in a time when they can be onsite here at Maramarua, so we can plan our yard work around that. We manufacture product as well as mix it here, so the machines are always busy. But at least we know they’ll be maintained when new to a schedule through Porters, and it isn’t a headache to get sorted either.
“We’re really stoked to have these machines on the fleet,” he concludes. “They’re solid and reliable and the back-up that Porters provides is equally impressive. We often don’t have time to think about the tools we’ve got – we’ve just got to get on with the job. But the Hyundais are great for the yard, and they certainly don’t let us down.
Images by Cameron Officer