Egelquip is historically a waste solutions company established in 2013 by Kieron Geoghegan as a ‘new version’ of his original business, Conquip Plant Hire, which began trading in 1983, before being sold off to one of South Africa’s leading waste companies, EnviroServ. Conquip was at one point the biggest owner of compaction equipment in South Africa. When the business was sold off, Geoghegan decided to start a modern version of the highly successful Conquip Plant Hire, which led to the formation of Egelquip.
Egelquip was created with the intention to embrace an evolving business environment. In 2016, the company expanded its scope to include machinery distribution following a dealership agreement with the Finnish company, Tana, for the supply of mostly landfill compactors and shredders. Through its Finnish links with Tana, the company was offered the ALLU agency for southern Africa in 2018, a brand which CEO Brendan Geoghegan believes offers the greatest growth opportunity for Egelquip. The 2020 appointment as the ROCO dealer for southern Africa further gives Egelquip a footprint into new territories such as quarrying, opencast mining and recycling of demolition waste.
Having been in charge of Egelquip’s DRC ventures for the past five years, Brendan returned to South Africa in 2020 to take over from his father Kieron as Group CEO. Brendan believes that with the ALLU and ROCO offerings in the stable, coupled with the service capabilities that the company is already renowned for, Egelquip is ready to challenge for a sizeable share of the market in the southern African crushing and screening space.
The crushing and screening sector in Africa, whether in quarrying or mining, is generally conservative, with many players in this space loyal to certain brands that they have operated for many years. The market is also stubborn for sticking to what it believes are the proven ways of doing things, principally driven by a mindset that says “this is what we use here”. Brendan says that Egelquip has done its homework and is ready to challenge the status quo, through offering what he believes are efficient solutions for better crushing and screening economics.
A case in point is the ALLU offering, which he says will help businesses transform the way have always worked by turning any tool carrier – excavator, wheeled loader or skid-steer loader – into a multifunctional tool that can screen, crush, mix, aerate, pulverise and load, all in a one-step process. Typical applications for the ALLU Transformer range include pipeline padding, recycling and processing of demolition waste. At quarries, these attachments can also be deployed to process waste material for haul road maintenance, for instance.
Egelquip was appointed the ALLU dealer in southern Africa in 2019. The company supplies a comprehensive range of ALLU Transformer and Processor attachments across the region, and in conjunction with ALLU, provides full aftermarket care, spare parts and dedicated customer service. The ALLU Processor is a power mixer attachment which converts any excavator into a powerful and versatile mixing tool capable of penetrating and effectively mixing a variety of difficult materials. Materials suited for the attachment range from clay, silt, peat, sludge and sediment, to dredged material and contaminated soil.
“From the onset, we were intrigued by the innovativeness of the ALLU product range, especially the Transformer series. While it fits well into our traditional landfill space, it also opens up a whole new business area for us in the aggregates crushing and screening sector,” he says.
Egelquip has already brought in a few ALLU units, which have been deployed on a pipeline project for one of the state-owned enterprises in South Africa. To further prove concept, the company will bring demo units at the start of 2021. “We will bring in two ALLU buckets, one for a mining application in the coal space, and another for a screening application in the pipeline industry,” he says.
Brendan believes that the ALLU offering disrupts what is regarded as the norm, especially in the pipeline industry. “Traditionally, you would dig out material using an excavator, which is then loaded onto a tipper, before being hauled to a screen, where it’s processed. You then have to reload the material onto the tipper after processing and bring it back to the trench for backfilling using an excavator. With the ALLU bucket, we can cut out all the re-handling expenses as one is able to process the material straight from the trench and backfill immediately,” he says.
Commenting on the ROCO offering, Brendan says the equipment allows Egelquip to compete in the mainstream crushing and screening space against some of the established brands. Officially launched in 2018, ROCO is the latest sister company to the Ballytrain Group. Based in Northern Ireland, known as the home of crushing and screening, ROCO leverages the Ballytrain Group’s 40 years’ experience in the crushing and screening industry. After building a global customer base through supplying used crushing and screening equipment to over 90 countries, the group made the decision to develop purpose-built machinery from the ground up, incorporating the significant experience within the Ballytrain team.
Egelquip’s initial ROCO product offering will include two jaw crushers, two scalping screens and three different sized stackers. “This will provide us with a comprehensive range of equipment that is able to service various industries and different size operators. With ROCO, we are targeting recycling, quarrying, waste and mining industries,” he says.
“Having built a solid foundation in the waste industry as one of the clear market leaders, we at EgelQuip look forward to our growth and expansion into the crushing and screening space. Our core focus has always been unrivalled customer support, and we are confident that we have delivered this to our existing customers in the waste industry. Our next challenge is expanding this reliable service offering to the crushing and screening industry where we hope to disrupt the current status quo and provide our new customers with reliable, productive and efficient equipment, coupled with our excellent technical support.”
Egelquip has also partnered with a specialised asset finance house, and together the two entities will be able to provide the market with flexible and innovative finance options on all ROCO and ALLU equipment. “This, we believe, will provide our customers with the capital and tools crucial to running profitable operations.”
Looking ahead, Brendan is positive that 2021 will be a year of growth for Egelquip, following a tough year in 2020. “We have done enough legwork in 2020and we believe we have already laid a good foundation for ROCO. Some of our existing clients have already shown interest, and we are excited about the future.”
Brendan is also thrilled by the recent global Dealer of the Year award from Tana for 2019, which he says is testimony to the company’s service capabilities. “We are honoured to be recognised for our excellent service among all the Tana dealers worldwide. This award further confirms that service is our key strength as a company. We believe that every product is as good as its support, and we don’t pay lip service when it comes to customer experience. We want our ALLU and ROCO customers to enjoy the same service with which we have looked after any other brand in our stable,” concludes Brendan.
