Larger capacity fork lifts are coming into their own due largely to the ongoing global commodities boom and associated growth in the intermodal freight task. Matt Wood investigates.
The MLA Vulcan range of 16 tonnes and over
machines, which first showed up on the Australian market in 2005,
reflects how the heavy end of the container handling fork lift
market is seeing a dramatic increase in demand as industry moves to
keep pace with the mining boom.
The name has nothing to do with Star Trek’s Dr Spock, however.
It’s a fairly safe bet it refers to the Roman god of fire and
volcanos, not the pointy-eared science fiction character.
There are plenty of familiar names among the ‘big truck’
manufacturers, including the usual suspects – Kalmar, Hyster and
Clark/Omega.
But what of the Vulcan?
MLA
Holdings has been in the fork lift game since 1980 and has been
active in the smaller capacity end of the market handling new, used
and rental Mitsubishi fork lifts as well as container handling
machinery.
The Vulcan name refers to MLA’s range of heavy lift fork lifts
covering the 16-tonne to 45-tonne capacity.
The MLA Vulcan range of 16 tonnes and over machines, which first
showed up on the Australian market in 2005, reflects how the heavy
end of the container handling fork lift market is seeing a dramatic
increase in demand as industry moves to keep pace with the mining
boom.
The name has nothing to do with Star Trek’s Dr Spock, however.
It’s a fairly safe bet it refers to the Roman god of fire and
volcanos, not the pointy-eared science fiction character.
There are plenty of familiar names among the ‘big truck’
manufacturers, including the usual suspects – Kalmar, Hyster and
Clark/Omega.
But what of the Vulcan?
MLA Holdings has been in the fork lift game since 1980 and has
been active in the smaller capacity end of the market handling new,
used and rental Mitsubishi fork lifts as well as container handling
machinery.
The Vulcan name refers to MLA’s range of heavy lift fork lifts
covering the 16-tonne to 45-tonne capacity.
The origins of the range actually lie with one of Europe’s
biggest materials handling manufacturers – Linde. But, while the
Vulcan may have its origins in Linde, the machine itself has been
built and made for Australian conditions, with heavy-duty cooling
packages developed specifically for local conditions. These
machines are manufactured in both the United Kingdom and China
using the same quality assurance standard.
The ‘baby’ of the range starts with the H160, which has a lift
capacity of 16 tonnes at 1,200mm load centre, and continues through
the capacity range to 32 tonnes capacity H320 with conventional
fork tines.
Above this capacity, things become interesting with the H400
container top lift, the H420 general use fork lift and the big
daddy C4531 and C4535 container reach stackers. Both of the reach
stackers will stack standard height 9’6 (2.9m) shipping containers
5′ (1.52m) high.
On paper at least, the Vulcan range seems to have most heavy
fork lift roles covered.
I found this particular H420 Vulcan nestled among the coal
elevators, dock cranes and mangroves of Newcastle. It had been set
up for flexibility and as a result is equipped with fork lift tines
as well as 20/40 top lift container spreader supplied by Swedish
equipment manufacturer ELME.
This set-up gives the operator the flexibility to use the
machine with bare tines if required by detaching the spreader
attachment.
On approaching the big green beast, some standout features were
already evident.
The mast of the machine towering above the surrounding yard was
impressively uncluttered with the hydraulic lift rams mounted
behind the mast channel and the lift chains travelling up the
outside channel set into the mast. The tilt rams also are mounted
above the cab of the H420. The increased leverage provided by the
tilt rams’ location means strain is reduced on the hydraulic system
as a whole.
The diversity of the tasks that these machines can be expected
to undertake means that every vehicle platform has to have some
degree of flexibility.
This machine has a forward-mounted cab to maximise forward
visibility while loading and unloading trucks. In general, top lift
container handlers tend to have the driver’s cabin mounted high and
towards the rear of the machine to maximise visibility while
stacking containers four and five high in container yards.
Vulcan reach stackers can be fitted with a sliding cab so that
the driver can move the cab to the rear when driving and stacking
in a container yard scenario or forward when loading or unloading
trucks and train carriages, maximising visibility in both roles.
This is a big plus in markets like ours where half-height
intermodal rail containers are commonplace; the operator needs to
keep the smaller, but no less heavier, containers in sight at all
times.
To help with stability the reach stacker range can be easily
optioned with stabiliser legs, a big plus when stacking and or
rotating loaded containers at height.
Climbing onto the H420 was especially easy with a wide staircase
with handrail leading up to the driver’s cabin. Once seated,
looking forward, my first impression of mast visibility was
confirmed with a remarkably clear view through and around the
mast.
In fact, considering the forward position of the cab, visibility
all round was excellent for such a big truck, the scalloped
counterweight over the rear steer axle is impressively low with the
option of a counterweight mounted reverse camera available.
The cabin itself was reasonably well appointed, as you’d expect
with its European heritage, with a comfortably small steering wheel
easily reached from the air ride seat.
Climate control and sun blinds were also a nice touch with all
other instrumentation on this truck kept to a minimum and out of
the way.
The multi-function joystick on the driver’s right takes care of
all hydraulic functions much the same as many of its
competitors.
To the left of the steering wheel lie the controls for the
compact Dana-Spicer TE-26 4 speed torque converter transmission
with a simple digital readout.
For operations where speed limiting is required MLA use the
E-gas vehicle monitoring system which can be used to limit the
machines’ speed via the engine’s electronic control module (ECM)
rather than locking out top gear of the transmission to control
speed.
This means that by using the E-gas system a container handler
can still idle across the yard in top gear, maintaining a safe
speed, but saving fuel at the same time.
Load-sensing hydraulics also help save fuel by removing the need
for the driver to plant their accelerator foot to generate
hydraulic pressure to lift a heavy load. The load sensing system
evaluates how much engine rpm and hydraulic pressure is needed and
regulates engine revs accordingly.
The H420 relies on Cummins power with a 246kW QSM11 engine
installed deep with the bowels of the Vulcan chassis; the choice of
Cummins is pretty much a no brainer here in Australia where you’d
have to try really hard to find a place where there wasn’t a
Cummins mechanic.
MLA, like most materials handling equipment providers, has
workshops in every state along with an agent in the Northern
Territory.
On some models in the Vulcan range, all daily checks can be
carried out at ground level; on the H420, however, fluid checks
have to be done by lifting the engine cover, not a huge
inconvenience but then again the easier you make access for these
checks the more likely they are to get done.
If the large capacity fork lift market continues to heat up, the
big green machine should prove a worthy contender.
MLA appears to have all bases covered with the Vulcan, which
manages to combine European design, safety features and ergonomics
with a tried and true driveline in an innovative package.
There’s every reason to believe that it should ‘live long and
prosper’.
Originally published in Plant & Equipment magazine issue
234