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CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS
SEPTEMBER 2016
24
I
ncreased road traffic calls for contin-
uous construction and improvement
of roads in Africa, both in urban and
rural areas, and will likely fuel the
asphalt paver market. South Africa
remains one of the advanced paver mar-
kets on the continent, as the establishment
of modern roads and heavy expenditure on
road maintenance in the country continue
to take centre stage.
Bearing in mind that an asphalt paver is
one of the idlest pieces of equipment on a
road construction site, only deployed to
work a few hours per day, fleet replace-
ment programmes are not as intensive
as those for other road construction ma-
chines. For that reason, the paver market
in South Africa, at its best, only accounts
for about 18 units per year.
It is also important to note that this is a
specialised piece of equipment, calling for
expert backup support, a big strength for
most specialised original equipment man-
ufacturers (OEMs) in the road construction
equipment space. Competition is rife, with
several OEMs vying for a share of the mar-
ket. Some of the names that come to mind
as far as asphalt pavers are concerned in-
clude Wirtgen, with its Vögele range, Atlas
Copco, with its Dynapac range, Bomag,
Caterpillar, Volvo Construction Equipment
(CE) and Ammann. A host of Chinese OEM’s
have also since ventured into the paver
market. These include XCMG, Sany Heavy
Industries and Zoomlion, to mention a few.
However, due to the specialised nature of
this machinery, European players, with their
premium offerings, have a considerable
market share.
Several recent launches from Vögele,
Dynapac, Caterpillar and Volvo CE are testimony
that this technology continues to evolve.
Innovation paves in
German road construction equipment
specialist Vögele recently used Bauma
2016 to show its Super 1800-3i SprayJet,
an innovative spray paver with a new
operating concept. One key feature is
that the operation of the spray module
has been integrated into the ErgoPlus 3
AT THE PAVING EDGE
As the construction contracting fraternity fights to remain
in business in the face of very few and far between projects
and lower margins, there is a growing expectation from road
contractors that modern machinery should play a crucial role
in speeding up processes on sites. Several new launches in the
asphalt paver space, with advanced technological enhancements
for better integration of paving workflows, are set to address road
contractors’ productivity concerns. By
Munesu Shoko.