South African heavy equipment manufacturer Bell Equipment has signed a distribution agreement with Liebherr, one of the world's leading construction companies, which will see the homegrown company distributing Liebherr excavators into Africa and South Africa.

In terms of the agreement, the company will be distributing Liebherr tracked hydraulic excavators ranging from 20 t to 85 t, namely the R906C to the R974C, thereby enabling the company to offer its customers larger-sized excavators that are ideally matched to the larger Bell ADTs.

"We see huge potential in the mining sector as the demand for commodities looks set to continue," says Bell Equipment CEO Gary Bell. "Since the majority of our large ADTs, from the B35D to the B50D are sold into the mining sector, we believe that this is an opportune time to introduce a more comprehensive range of excavators into our product offering. Liebherr excavators were a natural choice as the company is one of the world's leaders in its field and has a strong presence in the mining industry worldwide because of its quality products.

"We are bullish about our strategic partnerships with Liebherr, having established a good working relationship with the company in Europe in the early 2000s, when Bell first introduced our ADTs into the European market. We are proud to be able to expand on this relationship and this agreement ties in well with our strategy to partner with like-minded family businesses such as our existing machinery partners, John Deere and Bomag. Liebherr, like Bell Equipment, is a family business having been established by the Liebherr family in Germany in 1949," he says.

Bell says the agreement brings his company closer to its goal of offering a one-stop shop equipment solution to customers. "We are confident that the premium product and technical excellence offered by Liebherr, together with the world-class support network offered by the 22 Bell Customer Service Centers in South Africa and over 40 Bell CSCs and dealers in Africa, will be a win-win partnership for both parties, and importantly, for our customers."

Bell Equipment will be phasing out the current range of excavators, which have been distributed since 1992. "While the current range has performed exceptionally well for us, we have been limited by the range having nothing to offer customers to match their larger Bell ADTs," Bell says. "We will continue to meet our obligations and support our customers with the current range of excavators in terms of spare parts and servicing."

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