News

When the main commuter route into Cardiff, the Welsh capital, began to suffer from acute deformation, the Vale of Glamorgan Council required a durable and faster alternative to hot rolled asphalt to ensure minimum disruption for local road users.

The high sophistication of GPS machine control systems has resulted in a fast pace of technological advancement. The three major players in the machine control sector, Leica Geosystems, Topcon and Trimble have all made major gains in recent years. The sophistication of the latest systems can combine satellite position data from the GPS and GLONASS networks with information from total stations to provide precise, high speed machine operation. Further more the firms have also prepared themselves for the intro

A new Caterpillar grade control system can be installed at the factory to certain Tier 4 Interim/ Stage IIIB emission compliant dozers, graders, scrapers and excavators. The technology improves operator efficiency and equipment performance while reducing the overall cost of a machine guidance system on site.

Caterpillar plans to open a new manufacturing facility in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, to produce undercarriage components and track assemblies, which are utilised on Cat hydraulic excavators.

A new agreement between Volvo and Sweden's CeDe Group will see a new range of tunneling machines coming to the market.

Earlier this year Shell Australia unveiled two major investments in bitumen facilities to help meet demand across eastern Australia.

An agreement between the political leaders of Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan will boost transport connectivity between these nations. The agreement is for joint development of road and railway projects that will link the three countries. Details of the transport projects have not yet been revealed. Other aspects of the agreement relate to cross-border distribution of electricity as well as gas and oil pipelines.

Contracts worth a combined value of more than US$2.5billion have been awarded for two major Canadian highway construction projects. Spanish building firm, ACS, has been awarded a US$1.52billion contract to construct a new 27km eight-lane motorway. The contract also includes the operating of the road for 30 years. Meanwhile another Spanish construction firm, Ferrovial, working in association with SNC Lavalin, has been awarded the around US$1billion contract for the 20km extension of the Toronto 407 motorway

The competitive dialogue phase of the Mersey Gateway Project has begun. The project team are said to have held initial meetings with the three shortlisted bidding consortia, and will be working closely with each of them over the coming months. The aim is for each of the three bidders to submit their detailed proposals by the end of 2012, with an announcement about a preferred bidder likely to come in spring 2013. The value of the construction phase of the project, including land, is estimated at US$961milli

Global congestion presents a serious barrier to economic growth. Some estimates suggest this costs the world economy close to US$1 trillion in lost revenue. However key economies including Europe, North America, Japan and China are amongst those preparing for green commuting. Some 16 of the key Automotive OEMs are working on more than 110 short distance vehicles, with approximately 50 models being already production ready. The remaining 60 are in concept stage, but expected to become production ready by 202

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing substantial funding in place to boost Serbia’s transport infrastructure. The EBRD's investments in Serbia for the 2000-2011 period now total some €3 billion for over 180 projects. For 2012 the EBRD is continuing its financial support of Serbia’s infrastructure, with the Corridor 10 highway being one of the key targets.

New Holland is introducing new models of heavy-duty crawler excavators. The E385C and E485C are in the 35tonne and 48tonne category respectively. The Holland said that they have been built deal with the most demanding applications and harshest conditions. The latest models offer more power and fast cycles with new Tier 4 interim engines and new hydraulics. Fuel consumption is improved through the new hydraulics and new ECO working mode.

The Zoomlion HCC-80 is the latest edition to its crawler crane range. Weighing in at 72.5tonnes, GCS says the HCC-80 is easy to transport, and is among the first in the industry to meet ANSI standards for safe operation. The crane is also said to be ideal for general construction, bridgework and pile driving applications, as well as oil refinery and power plant work.