While Australia's mining industry is not showing any signs of slowing down, excavator sales are certainly on the rise.

With a new branch in Townsville and plans to relocate to a new, larger purpose built facility in Brisbane, Queensland Kobelco dealership, CA Construction Equipment (a division of Chesterfield Australia), is leading the booming market in the sale of excavators.

General Manager for CA Construction, Chris Batson, says the demand for Kobelco excavators is being driven by the continued infrastructure growth being undertaken to support the ongoing mining boom and the various Coal Seam Gas Projects in Queensland. 

"We took on the Kobelco range in 1999, and we provide service and sales across all of Queensland and parts of northern New South Wales. The popularity of Kobelco excavators across the State means we needed to ensure that we could adequately support customers who are not geographically close to our Brisbane facility. Our new dealership in Townsville will allow us to improve our service and parts capabilities for these customers."

The new facility will cater for mini Kobelco excavators to 48 tonne models. There are also plans to build another facility near Brisbane over the next 12 months.

"The facility will include a 10-bay workshop, more office space and a larger showroom, and will see us employing five more service and sales staff," continues Batson.

Kobelco's 15 tonne SK135SR construction excavators are proving to be in demand, with the company selling 21% of its 11.6 to 16 tonne excavators in Queensland in the last four months alone.

"The Kobelco SK135SR range has always been popular, finding work on everything from small private jobs to larger infrastructure projects. We’ve sold 21 per cent of all 11.6- to 16-tonne excavators in Queensland in the past four months. That means there are a lot of Kobelco customers out there that need strong support and service – which is exactly what we plan to provide by upgrading and expanding our facilities."

Batson says that one of the greatest attributes of its entire construction excavator range is the low fuel consumption, which can save owners thens of thousands of dollars over the life of the machine.

It also seems that the 48 tonne SK480LC-8 machine is in demand, with a number of machines sold recently for use on large infrastructure projects across the state.

With the infrastructure and mining boom across Queensland expected to continue, Batson says there’s never been a better time to expand the dealership. 

"Kobelco excavators have always had a strong market reputation for their reliability, power and low fuel consumption. As a dealership, our commitment to aftersales service and back up support adds that extra piece of mind that busy operators demand."