Rob following in his dad’s footsteps

You could certainly say that Rob is following in the footsteps of his father, Wim – or driving in his tracks, rather. His dad Wim van der Loo has years of experi-ence of water and drainage contracts for the most part, and he’s always used Cat wheel excavators. He’s recently had a number of contracts as part of the Border Meuse project in southern Limburg. The aim of this project is to widen the river and create more varied countryside in order to enhance the natural value of the area and prevent flooding, which was previously a frequent occurrence.

Planning to buy more

Rob has been working as an operator since he was a young man, and last year he took over a nine-year-old wheel excavator, a well maintained Caterpillar M318 C, from his father.

“But even then I was planning to invest in a new machine,” says Rob.

He went about researching his purchase thoroughly. He compared the performance and prices of the various makes, but in the end he decided to go for the new Caterpillar M316 D. This machine was fitted with a hydraulically adjustable boom and an engcon EC20 with grab.

“I’m more than happy! The tiltrotator makes my job a whole lot easier, and the grab is very useful for lifting and positioning pipes and piles, for example,” says Rob.