Among the coalfields of Pennsylvania and Virginia the requirements of wheel loader buyers are exacting.
Rick Mead of Double R Trucking is just one user who says the Volvo L220E is invaluable to his haulage operation.
Rick and his father Doug run a fleet of 50 tractor/trailer units, trucking coal 3 kilometers from Erdington to McClure, Virginia for Dixon Russell.
The company utilizes its L220E model 12 hours each shift, six days a week, moving around 127 000 tonnes of coal per month. In addition, its Volvo wheel loader handles another 27 215 tonnes of refuse each month, which is sent to a nearby landfill.
“On average we load around 100 to 130 tri-axle trailers per shift with the L220E,” he reports. “We can load a 55-tonne capacity tri-axle trailer in just five passes of an 8 m³ bucket, yet still have ¼ tank of fuel left over after running a 12 hour shift.Our record is loading 168 trucks with 7 527 tonnes of coal in ten hours”.