Vermeer Equipment Suppliers (PTY) Ltd has been providing sales and after sales support to Vermeer equipment owners since 2004. With the Vermeer brand of equipment being supplied into sub-Saharan Africa for two decades, Vermeer Equipment Suppliers have established a track record of providing Vermeer clients with technical solutions parts supply and service support at the highest level.
From its headquarters in Johannesburg and with a mobile service station in Cape Town and a Sales Office in Lagos in Nigeria the organization supplies parts and consumables to customers throughout sub-Saharan Africa. “The Vermeer brand of equipment is distributed around the globe and our company is covering all countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Vermeer HDD drilling systems can be found in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria. The largest equipment population certainly being in South Africa and Nigeria,” says Frank Beerthuis, Managing Director
The latest development in African infrastructure, has make it many people view it as potential market. Commenting on this Beerthuis, states that, “We see large potential in Africa for the majority of our products. Our underground installation equipment allows contractors to install utilities such as telecommunication, fibre, power, water & sanitation and oil & gas pipelines. The product ranges from moling equipment (piercing tools), pit-launch drills, horizontal directional drills, auger boring machines, cable trenchers and pipeline trenchers. All of these products find applications throughout the African continent.
With renewable energies having a growing importance in the worlds energy generation, Vermeer has expanded its product range with cable laying equipment for Wind and Solar farms as well as Pile Drivers for installation of Solar fields. For the quarrying and mining industry Vermeer manufactures a range of continuous surface miners. These machines are being deployed in open cast mines and quarries where they mine deposits of limestone, coal, copper, cobalt, bauxite, diamonds and many other resources. A full range of equipment for Tree Care, Landscaping, Forestry and Organic Waste Recycling is available to manage our natural resources. The Agricultural product line includes a full range of Forage harvesting machines such as Mowers, Mower-Conditioners, Rakes, Balers and bale Processors”.
Vermeer equipment is generally being deployed in large projects such as the fibre backbone projects in Southern and Eastern Africa, water pipeline projects in Botswana, FTTX rollout projects throughout the continent, Oil & Gas Pipeline projects and Open Cast Mining projects for a variety of commodities in several countries.
Vermeer manufactures equipment for niche applications. Unique aspects of these machines are high production rates combined with low operational cost, ease of operation and maintenance, durability and longevity and high quality technical backup with spare parts and service. These are the main factors which have contributed to the large market share Vermeer holds for this product line. But then they also have other unique product features such as ease of operation, ease of maintenance and common controls throughout the entire product range. The operator controls on the smallest Vermeer drills are identical to these of the larger pipeline installation rigs and that enables fleet owners to have all machines sizes being operated by same HDD personnel. Another and probably most important aspect is the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the Vermeer after-sales support, ranging from the supply of spare parts, wear items and consumables, service and maintenance contracts, breakdown repairs and in-depth operator trainings our company is conducting throughout the region.
Beerthuis, concludes as he urges clients that, “We generally advise our customers to assess the desired application and to know the jobsite conditions before investing into equipment. We assist clients with the selection of equipment models and support packages so that they can be assured of optimum suitability for the jobs they need to carry out. We want our clients to be “Equipped to do more” by providing them with advice, equipment and after sales service which has a real impact on their productivity and profit!”
