KattraK International is celebrating the first anniversary of the opening of its Dunoon depot.

Opened to offer a better service to Argyll and the Islands, the Dunoon depot continues to grow, recently acquiring more yard space to hold hire machinery.

The unique capabilities of the tracked dumper range has allowed certain jobs on soft ground to be carried out which would otherwise have been impossible.

Major groundwork at the local high school required the relocation of thousands of tonnes of loose, muddy spoil.

KattraK supplied a 12 tonne Yanmar tracked dumper and a 14 tonne Morooka tracked dumper, making the work not only possible, but it was completed easily within the forecast schedule.


Depot manager, Colin Wilkinson, said the smaller tracked dumpers (the 1 tonne and 3 tonne Canycom tracked dumpers) have been particularly successful hire machines.

"The 1 tonne is finding repeat hire business in garden clearances, particularly of sloping ground, with the 3 tonne machines working the beaches around local fish farms, where wheeled machines simply cannot operate," he explained.

A recent addition to the Dunoon fleet has been very popular. It is a 4-wheel-drive Terex 1 tonne high-lift dumper, which is capable of loading directly into a standard skip, or onto the bed of a 7.5 tonne lorry.

Coming soon, Colin expects to receive a 'cherry picker' access tower and a number of mid-range excavators, along with road dumpers for the more conventional jobs.

While larger construction projects continue to be in decline, more home extensions aRE being built, more garages are being erected and workshops and outbuildings are being assembled on new foundations, keeping the hire side of KattraK, Dunoon, busy.

(GK/KMcA)