Stronga were recently approached by Mr. A. McGrath – HME Plant Manager at ‘Aggregate Industries UK Limited’ who own the immense granite super-quarry in Glensanda, Scotland.

One of the largest granite quarries in Europe, the Glensanda site contains a processing plant, small aircraft landing strip, coastal deep-water berth on Loch Linnhe, which can serve ships up to 120,000 tonnes, and a small harbour that receives a private ferry which crosses the loch from Port Appin, bringing workers to the quarry.

The team at Stronga were happy to advise Aggregate Industries in improving their operational efficiency while enabling them to move closer towards their “low-carbon” goals. Learn more about the collaboration, below.

In April 2022, Aggregate Industries launched a sustainability strategy which set out their commitment “to be a UK leader of innovative and sustainable building solutions”.

As part of Glensanda’s values, they have committed to a number of actions which included; (1) employing local people; (2) helping and supporting local communities through their community fund; (3) planting over 60 hectares of native woodland; (4) and reducing CO₂ emissions, so as to limit their carbon footprint.

To reduce the carbon footprint and considerable expense associated with their existing logistics process, Mr McGrath reached out to Stronga for expert advice from our knowledgeable and experienced HookLoada sales team.

As part of their vast operation, extracting and transporting up to 78 million tonnes of granite per annum, Aggregate Industries currently own and operate a fleet of expensive trucks and single-purpose dumpers.

The issue, as explained by Mr. McGrath, is that their existing fleet is highly inefficient in both financial and energy terms, with multiple, expensive-to-maintain machines at work; a truck for the water bowser, a truck for the fuel bowser, multiple fuel-hungry dumpers and more.

For the purposes of improving sustainability at Glensanda while improving their bottom line, Aggregate Industries wanted to streamline their granite handling process, reducing the number of machines at work by replacing single-purpose machines with equipment capable of handling multiple tasks. Enter HookLoada.

Mr McGrath identified that tri-axle Stronga hook lift trailers with appropriately matched containers would complete many of the granite handling tasks by itself, and would therefore significantly reduce their maintenance costs of servicing and, eventually, replacing multiple truck units.

They are currently planning the following container fleet, to accompany a HookLoada HL300 trailer:
1. One no. 20,000L hook lift fuel bowser.
2. One no. hook lift water bowser with 25,000-30,000L capacity.
3. Multiple hook lift flatbeds to transports pallets (up to 20 tonnes) and an 8 tonne ‘cherry picker’.
4. The potential to purchase additional low-sided dumper containers in the future to enable the HookLoada trailer to shuttle loaded granite containers back and forth to the processing plant.

At 420m above sea level, with extreme, steep inclines, the brutal Glensanda super-quarry only respects equipment like HookLoada; equipment proven to deliver reliable performance on the most difficult gradients.

With a wide range of well-developed optional equipment, HookLoada equipment can be optimised to thrive in demanding environments like Glensanda. In quarry situations, Stronga often recommend Hydraulic Suspension options; ensuring the hook trailer performs reliably on steep slopes. The specification can also be optimised with high load capacity, puncture-resistant tyres, to ensure downtime and overall maintenance costs are all-but eliminated. HookLoada is also built using super-strong Hardox wear plates, delivering excellent durability and reliability when loading and unloading the heaviest containers.

The outcome is a “construction-ready” hook lift trailer that is; Optimised for Glensanda.

HookLoada has been proven to significantly improve operational efficiency in quarries and mines across the globe. Get yours on order today. Our friendly and knowledgeable sales team are available at sales@stronga.co.uk