Hitachi dealer DEM Senegal supplies new ZX280LC-5 excavator

DEM Senegal has supplied a new Hitachi ZX280LC-5 to the French contractor, CASL, for work on a rice farm. The medium excavator is digging trenches for the irrigation channels that will feed the crops on the expansive site in West Africa.

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The project is located off the beaten track and the closest town, Rosse Béthio, is around 50km from the city of Saint Louis in the north of Senegal. The work started in October 2013, with 150 hectares of rice fields already prepared and the potential to develop over 2,000 hectares in total.

“The ZX280LC-5 is working continuously to make an average of 170m of channels every day,” says Fabrice Travers, CASL’s Workshop Manager. “We’re very happy with this high-quality machine, as it has to work hard in this tough environment with the extreme heat and fine sand. It is very quiet, smooth and environmentally friendly.

“As the farm is so remote, our aim is to store all of the spare parts on site. We have to ensure that the machines keep running and so we have a schedule in place for preventive maintenance every 250 hours. This will help us to reduce downtime and increase productivity, with the invaluable help of DEM Senegal for quick response times, a high standard of technical assistance and a plentiful supply of parts.”