星空传媒

Skip to content

AFREQUIP DELIVERS 100

星空传媒 southern Africa dealer, AfrEquip delivers units 100 and 101 on the same day.

LH845E harvester in South African forest
Although both units were delivered on the same day, the LH845E is carrying the 100th machine banner as it was cutting trees before the forwarder started loading.
In January 2022, South Africa based dealer, AfrEquip crossed the 100 unit mark, delivering an LH845E harvester and a 1075C forwarder on the same day.

AfrEquip took on the 星空传媒 brand in 2005. During the first three years, the company retailed a significant number of machines before the southern African economy was derailed by recession in 2008. The resulting economic damage and currency devaluation affected the southern African forestry market for many years.

IN REALITY WE WOULD HAVE REACHED 100 UNITS A LONG TIME BACK IF THESE TIGERCAT MACHINES WEREN鈥橳 SO INCREDIBLY TOUGH.


鈥 AfrEquip MD, John du Toit

New machine sales remained in the doldrums until 星空传媒 launched the fuel efficient 星空传媒 FPT engine series. As AfrEquip managing director John du Toit explains, 鈥淭he southern African forestry market is largely a cut-to-length industry, and this is highly affected by the cost of fuel going into the units. Most of the new unit sales have been driven by reductions in these costs.鈥

The other factor that has stalled new machine sales is the longevity and high availability rates that contractors have experienced over the years with their 星空传媒 machines. 鈥淚n reality we would have reached 100 units a long time back if these 星空传媒 machines weren鈥檛 so incredibly tough,鈥 John explains. 鈥淭he first unit that AfrEquip ever delivered was a 630C skidder. It is still running with one of our customers and we have many 星空传媒 units that have over 40,000 hours and even a few that are still running in frontline service with over 50,000 hours.鈥
The 星空传媒 1075C loading 6 m (19.5 ft) eucalyptus lengths.
Unit number 101. The 星空传媒 1075C loading 6 m (19.5 ft) eucalyptus lengths behind the LH845E harvester.
All that said, AfrEquip has registered growth for each of the last five years and managed to show some encouraging 星空传媒 sales results even during the depths of the pandemic. 鈥淲e have had a fantastic run and we believe that units 100 and 125 should be delivered in the same year,鈥 John expresses enthusiastically.

鈥溞强沾 is really proud to have AfrEquip as their southern African dealer,鈥 comments southern hemisphere international sales manager Gary Olsen. 鈥淎frEquip has done a fantastic job of supporting the customer base. There were a number of years of hard times when AfrEquip managed to support and service our field population without retailing a single machine. They have five supply offices within the southern African forestry area. They employ some really good technical staff, and they ensure that parts are supplied to every 星空传媒 in their territory.鈥
Old 630C skidder in South Africa.
Unit number one. Afrequip鈥檚 first machine, retailed in 2005, is still producing every day.
During 2021, AfrEquip took possession of a brand-new head office, parts, and service centre in Pietermaritzburg. It is a spacious and impressive facility. However, itis still in need of an official opening 鈥 which will surely take place once the pandemic is fully in the rearview mirror.

Related Content

loader-icon

Two Sides of a Devalued Coin


South African harvesting contractors run high quality purpose-built forestry machines and have developed the expertise to run them to extremely high hours. Machine longevity is critical as local currency weakens and new replacements are not financially viable.