Ascot based Shorts Group has taken delivery of 15 Volvo EC18C and nine EC27C compact excavators. The machines replace a proportion of five year old Volvo EC15B and EC25Bs, which according to Shorts’ Plant Depot Manager Jason Southam, have served the company well in terms of reliability and overall quality.

“We felt the time was right to refresh our fleet of 1.5 and 3 tonne excavators and settled on the Volvo offering once again thanks to the outstanding service the outgoing machines have given us and the residual values,” he said.

The 1.8 tonne EC18C was selected specifically for its two speed automatic travel motors, load sensing hydraulics and hydraulically extendable undercarriage. The EC27C replaces the previous EC25 and EC30 models, and Shorts says customers such as landscaping contractors will particularly appreciate the floating dozer blade on the machine, which facilitates ground profiling. All 24 machines have been supplied with the Cesar P1 identification system.