A large Caterpillar truck with a 96-foot crane stretched high into the sky sits in a place of honour during the June 15 grand opening of Aquatech Dewatering Company's Sudbury office.
The 475-horsepower Model CT 680S Boom Truck, which can lift up to 27 tonnes, was custom-built for the company by Toromont CAT, Caterpillar's dealer in much of Canada.
Andy Ingriselli, president of Aquatech, said his company needs the truck to pick up the heavy equipment it uses to pump water and other material for clients.
“These are big pieces,” he said. “You need some manner where you can pick it up and put it where it belongs. Not always is there a paved road to that result.”
He didn't reveal exactly how much the company paid for the piece of equipment, but said it was expensive.
Now that the truck has been designed, Caterpillar expects the product to sell well, Bill Fields, Toromont CAT's Toronto truck account manager, said.
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Aquatech Dewatering Company showed off their new Caterpillar-built crane truck at the grand opening of the company's Sudbury office June 15. From left are Andy Ingriselli, president of Aquatech, Russell Thomas, vice-president of sales and engineering at Aquatech, Raul Misa, vice-president of operations, Claudio Chivarella, chief financial officer with Aquatech, and Bill Fields, Toromont CAT's Toronto truck account manager. Photo by Heidi Ulrichsen.
“CAT's quite excited about the prospects of growing in this market,” he said. “They've been in the truck engine business for 40 years. This is the first venture in a complete truck and full-service product. All the dealers are coming up to speed with full truck support capabilities.”
Fields said the mobile crane truck is very easy to drive.
“The manoeuvrability is second to none in the world,” he said. “It's very quiet. It's like driving a big pickup truck, it's that quiet inside.”
Aquatech, which also has offices in Concord and Ottawa, Ont. and St. John's, Nfld, actually set up shop in Sudbury about a year ago in a 12,000-square-foot facility on Lasalle Boulevard, Ingriselli said.
The company provides dewatering — also known as pumping — support for the construction and mining industries. Many companies sell or rent pumping equipment, but Aquatech is one of the few that goes in and does the job for clients, Ingriselli said.
“We'll pump everything from clean, potable water or groundwater right up to slurries or contaminated material,” he said. “As long as it's in a liquid form, we have a manner to safely and securely pump it.”
One of Aquatech's strengths is reacting to emergency situations, Ingriselli said.
“If it's a flood or failed infrastructure system or emergency dewatering, we can facilitate within our own control everything that's required.”
The company also had its other equipment on display during its grand opening, including diesel, electric and hydraulic centrifugal pumps, a drill rig and a hydraulic submersible pump, which is designed to handle tough mining applications.
The current boom in the mining industry, as well as environmental initiatives such as Vale's Clear AER project, are an alluring source of potential business, he said.
The company's Sudbury office, which currently has four full-time employees, is looking to expand its workforce in the near future, Ingriselli said.
“Because we selected Sudbury to be our northern hub, it becomes a great opportunity to grow a great manpower and personnel out of the Sudbury operations,” he said.
“We anticipate before the end of the year, we'll have well over 10 people at this branch, and next year we'll probably double the people as well.”
For more information about Aquatech, visit www.aquatechdewatering.com. To learn more about Toromont CAT, visit www.toromontcat.com.
Posted by Arron Pickard
