Hitachi to add big dump trucks to tap mining booms
Source: 24-JUL-2008 Intellasia | Bloomberg
Jul 24, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., the world's biggest maker of giant excavators, will introduce a large dump truck in September to capitalise on mining booms in Australia, Asia and Africa.

The company aims to sell 50 dump trucks in 2010, or a 20% share of the global market for mining trucks with a payload capacity of 140 tonnes to 200 tonnes, Kiyomitsu Yamanaka, president of the company's global mining operation group, said today at a presentation in Tokyo. The EH3500 AC II model, to be released on September 1, is developed with its parent Hitachi Ltd, a builder of Japan's Shinkansen high-speed trains.

Hitachi Construction Machinery has widened its range of dump trucks to lure customers as it challenges bigger competitors Caterpillar Inc. and Komatsu Ltd Mining-equipment makers seek to win more orders from mining companies exploring for new resources, such as coal, gold and iron ore.

"Resource demand will continue to grow strongly,'' Yamanaka told reporters today in Tokyo.

BHP Billiton Ltd, the world's largest mining company, and Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp will pay US$2.4 billion to acquire the New Saraji coal project in Australia from New Hope Corp as demand from steelmakers surges. The site has estimated resources of 690 million metric tonnes of coking coal, Melbourne-based BHP said July 17.

Hitachi Construction Machinery also said today the industry faces a shortage of tires for use in mining trucks in the face of strong demand. Bridgestone Corp and Michelin & Cie., the world's two largest tiremakers, make the tires for mining trucks.

Dump trucks

The EH3500 AC II model, a 185-tonne capacity truck that uses the inverter technology used in the electric motors of bullet trains, will be the first self-developed mining dump truck for Tokyo-based Hitachi Construction Machinery. The Japanese company gained the technology to build dump trucks in the 1990s when it acquired Euclid Road Machinery.

Demand for mining machinery is important to Hitachi Construction Machinery and Komatsu to overcome a slide in sales in Japan and the US Hitachi Construction Machinery forecast its slowest profit growth in at least six-years, as demand from developed countries falls and the Japanese currency strengthens, cutting the value of repatriated earnings.

Hitachi Construction Machinery, 50% owned by Hitachi, Japan's largest electronics maker, rose 2.3% to 3,110 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.