They’ll be coming back down the road from the mines at best ever prices!

New business opportunities have emerged with the massive influx of trucks and other heavy machinery to support the construction of the infrastructure for the mining and oil and gas sectors.

With the completion of much of that infrastructure, including the rail tracks, many of those trucks are now coming back on to the market.

Aussie Truck Loans of course will consider financing the acquisitions as new opportunities arise for entrepreneurial tradies, engineers and others involved in construction and civil works.

Anybody who has driven along the routes feeding into the many new mines, particularly in the Pilbarra region and currently in the Surat Basin, will have sat in awe as the double, triple and quadruple trucks hauling construction materials headed towards the mines.

Sitting in between are the thousands of four wheel drive vehicles, driven by the engineers, supervisors, superintendents and safety officers heading to mining, oil and gas and construction sites.

In addition are the vehicles used to build the road infrastructure, including those used to rebuild the roads in the same regions destroyed in the floods.

Much of the imported heavy machinery was brought in by heavy transport logistics experts, many of whom received their training in the armed forces, moving equipment in and out of East Timor, Afghanistan, Samoa and in other countries where relief work has been carried out.

The question is where will they go now? The infrastructure is mostly complete and investment in the expansion of mining in particular has slowed right down.

Logistics experts, employed by such international companies as Mammoet International, say the market for second hand trucks is likely to grow significantly over the next few months and some excellent bargains will be available.

Many will be sent across the globe to other development regions, but we can expect some bargain prices for heavy machinery over the next couple of years.

Despite the trucks being worked hard in such harsh conditions as found in the Pilbarra and Northern Territory, the constant maintenance on the sites mean that most are in excellent condition.

You can see the advertisements for trucks beginning to appear online, and so the next question is who will need them?

News this month of a significant turnaround in housing construction in New South Wales and Queensland, is also adding to a quiet optimism for the construction industry.

That is certainly apparent on the Sunshine Coast where four major projects are commencing: a new town to house more than 55 thousand in South Caloundra, a new hospital just up the road at Kawana, a new town centre in Maroochydore, and the extension of the airport runway on the Sunshine Coast, north of Maroochydore.

The challenge for the mining companies will be to offload some of their massive off-road vehicles, but for the local construction companies we should see some greatly reduced prices for trucks, four wheel drives (all white with flashing orange lights on top for safety), cranes, excavators and forklifts, tractors and trailers and a range of other equipment.

Some of the most common machinery includes:

  • LE Excavators
  • LZ Dozers
  • Frontend Loaders
  • Mack, Trident, Ch, Volvo, Moxy, Water Trucks
  • Lots of Komatsu, Hitachi, John Deere, cats, rollers, graders, backhoes, telescopic cranes etc.

At this stage it doesn’t look as though it’ll be a highly orderly discharge of machinery so it will be a keen eye, supported by experienced and canny business advisers, as well as guidance from the various diesel and general mechanics, that ensure those in the market secure a bargain that might turn up just once in a lifetime.

And the best tip is to chat to Aussie Truck Loans early, to get your finance organised to grab the best bargain going.