Hire fleet gets a boost

A Shropshire plant hire company has invested £12 million in a deal with Redditch based Marubeni-Komatsu for new plant machinery for their hire fleet, supported by Barclays.

Ridgway Rentals Ltd have placed an order of 130 new Komatsu machines, the order includes a mixture of excavators, bulldozers and loading shovels ranging from 2.5 to 50 tonnes. “Our focus on this latest investment has been on updating our fleet with highly efficient, environmentally friendly equipment,” said company chairman, Tim Jones.

Ridgway have seen demand for their plant hire services soar over recent years, especially to environmental agencies and in the waste and recycling industries. They have become renowned for specialist machine hire that exactly matches their customers’ requirements plus they offer these machines on long term contract hire.

Machines include super long front excavators with reaches up to 22 metres that come supplied with the CE certification and lifting charts that are necessary for environment agency work unlike other machines that have been altered after manufacture.

More specialist machines include loading shovels built to the specific requirements of waste and recycling sites including solid tyres, high tip buckets and fire suppression equipment.

“Supplying machines that match our customers exact requirements is vital for this industry with so many strict health and  safety obligations to adhere to” said Stuart Jones, MD.

Sarah Offland, Barclays corporate banking relationship director, said “We have been able to support Ridgway through rapid expansion over the last few years via a range of flexible funding options and asset finance lines. Ever evolving, we are now exploring a range of further “Green finance” options to support the company’s commitment to its strong environmental practices.”

Komatsu intelligent machine control (IMC) machines also feature in this order. Ridgway were the first UK company to purchase IMC excavators and dozers in 2017 and have seen demand for these grow and grow as their customers discover the huge benefits they bring to a worksite.