Scania dealer Finmec’s innovative truck rentals keep Port Hedland, Pilbara mines, and interconnecting rail services on track

Port Hedland, if not the beating heart of the Australian economy, is certainly one of its main arteries, providing a massive minerals outlet pipe to the world.

Keeping mining operations in the north west humming requires service vehicles to replenish the diggers and ’dozers as well as maintaining the haul trucks and multifarious ancillary machines that keep production on track.

Assisting mining operators are a number of machinery and vehicle rental companies, including Port Hedland’s Finmec, which also supports Scania customers as the company’s authorised independent dealer in the town.

Finmec provides repair, maintenance, and equipment hire across mining, transport, and civil sectors in Western Australia.

“We pride ourselves on being responsive, reliable, and capable of handling the conditions in the north-west of the state,” says Daniel Finch, who owns and operates the business with his wife, Jessica.

“We started with a single ute in 2007 and now Finmec employs almost 100 people locally in Port Hedland and we’re proud to be a Hedland business, serving Hedland’s industries. We’ve built our reputation on reliability, expertise, and innovation, with a team of heavy-duty diesel mechanics, auto-electricians, boilermakers, maintenance electricians, service persons and supervisors,” he says.

“We have been a Scania dealer since 2016 and have watched and encouraged the growth of Scania’s business up here. Around seven years ago we started hiring out equipment because we saw a gap in the market, driven by unexpected breakdowns or because customers need someone to support the equipment they have on site,” he says.

“Currently we have a substantial Scania-based hire fleet operating across the Pilbara with a mix of 6x4, 8x4 and 4x4. We chose Scania because conditions in the Pilbara are very tough. About 80% of our fleet works in off-road conditions, traversing gravel access roads to rail and mine sites. We have found that Scanias handle those conditions capably and reliably,” Daniel says.

“We keep our hire fleet in the field for five-to-seven years, before we sell them on. We want low hour, high quality equipment in the field. We run service intervals on these vehicles over kilometres and working hours, because often they are working when they are not moving.

“Some of the standout Scania features are the heavy-duty chassis and drivetrain that handle the vibrations from the road surface, and also the dust and heat, even when fully loaded. Scanias have a really good payload which improves our rental fleet’s productivity for our customers,” he says.

“Another feature is the operator comfort of the Scania truck: the air suspension, the digital dashboard and the seats, are all features that make enduring a long hard shift much more manageable,” he says.

Safety and fatigue reduction are key elements of the Scania offer for on-road and off-road trucks, and Daniel says that the Scania safety features are another key advantage.

“I would definitely mention Scania’s safety systems like the side airbags and crash-tested steel cab structures, that’s all extremely important in the mining industry,” he says.

Purchasing a fleet of Scania trucks is a significant investment for any customer let alone a Scania dealer, and recently Scania Finance Australia has taken up the role of funder for new vehicle purchases for Finmec.

"We're using Scania Finance Australia for funding and have been dealing with Tori Caton and Wayne Thomason, who have been great. The benefit for us is that they understand the equipment, they understand our business as a Scania dealer, and they've been responsive when we needed to move quickly on new projects,” Daniel says.

“Wayne, the Country Manager for Scania Finance Australia even brought his boss out to visit us from Malaysia, and that shows their interest in us as a customer.

“I'd say their finance offer is competitive. They have a focus on helping small and medium-sized businesses and are easier to deal with. For us the size we are, and the dealership link means we’re buying into the Scania solutions programme. But also, we have set up a funding facility, and this gives us as business owners the confidence that if we win a new project, we can finance the equipment we need and get to work quickly,” Daniel says.

So how does the rental fleet shape up and how is it being used?

“We use the Scania 6x4 as service trucks carrying oil, fuel and coolant to service the mining and truck fleet. We have water carts that can carry 14,000-litres of water to do dust suppression on the port and the mines, and we have some tippers that carry ore or waste for site cleanups.

“With the 8x4s, we're running service trucks and tool trucks. Tool trucks are used on the rail sites with a crane on the back to move rails, tools, and equipment around the site,” Daniel says.

The Scania 4x4s are very much the multi tool for Finmec, with differing roles for three different setups.

“We have converted three 4x4s into 32-passenger off-road buses, to move crews to rail sites or around mine sites. The bodies have been built in Perth by Able Truck and Bus. We also run 4x4s as flat trays. They're an ancillary truck that works around the port, rail or mine sites effectively as go-anywhere utes with a substantial payload and all of Scania’s safety features,” he says.

“Now we’re building some new Scania CrewCab 4x4s with an enclosed tray to carry all the rail tooling, oxy and acetylene bottles for welding, and there’s a tail lift on the back. They really are versatile as they can carry between one and five crew, plus the body is all set up to go down rail sites and make repairs.

“We have been using the 4x4 flat trays over the past year and they have been performing really well, so that’s why we built the new 32-passenger crew buses and the ManHaul trucks on this chassis, because it just does the job. When they are all in service there will be 11 P 280 4x4s in the rental fleet,” Daniel says.

“We’re standardising on Scania trucks not only because we’re a Scania service dealer, with easy access to parts and experienced technicians to look after them, but because the trucks perform in the field. Uptime is what's critical in mining. And the reliability and the performance of the Scanias have really been proven in these harsh off-road conditions.

“The Scania network in WA is doing a good job for us as well, as we have our rental trucks working all over the Pilbara. There are dealers in Newman and Karratha, etc., so if one of our rented trucks is working in another area, we're confident there's a Scania dealer to support our customers, in addition to the Scania-owned branch in Kewdale and the new regional parts warehouse in Hope Valley,” Daniel says.

“As a service agent for Scania we’re also looking after Scania mining trucks operated by the major mining companies as well as the smaller private miners and private haul or service vehicle operators as well.

“I've been up here for 18 years in the mining industry, and I'd suggest Scania is one of the most utilised trucks by a lot of mining clients. In the ancillary or non-haulage side, there's been significant growth over the past 10-15 years of Scania’s penetration of mining, and that’s why we became a Scania dealer, because we saw the growth and recognised there was a job to do in supporting all these vehicles,” Daniel says.

In addition to the rental fleet of Scanias, Finmec’s fleet includes ‘dozers, loaders, graders, and skid-steers.

“We’re not wholly focused on mining as we rent equipment to civil construction companies and quarries, as well as engineering companies, for example if they have a project on and need to move some big gear, but predominantly our business is mining and rail, which are also very closely interconnected.

“Port Hedland is the world’s biggest bulk export port, so we’re active in supporting the port and without rail a lot of that tonnage, which comes from the mines, wouldn’t get through.

“We see our difference in that we have the back-up support as an integral part of our hiring offer. We have the workshop, the technicians the know-how to fix things and access to the parts. Our guys are already inducted into the sites so they can get access easily, so we can speed up the repair, reducing downtime - that's our biggest focus.

“An hour of downtime could mean millions in lost production,” Daniel says.