Construction Equipment Companies Join Relief Effort

A number of construction equipment companies have put their resources behind the relief effort in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, Ill., has announced that at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Electric Power Division has arranged for 60 Cat power modules to be shipped from Brazil to the Gulf Coast region. Each module can power 200-300 typical homes, according to a release from Caterpillar.

The North American Commercial Division (NACD) of Cat is coordinating with businesses to divert additional equipment to Louisiana and Mississippi to aid in recovery and cleanup efforts.

Cat’s Wheel Loaders and Excavators Division (WLED) is donating two material handlers for use by municipalities in Louisiana and Mississippi. WLED is also working with Defense & Federal Products to donate a large material handler to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help rebuild levees in New Orleans. Due to the shortage of fuel, machines shipped to the region are being topped off with fuel at the plants so they can immediately be put into service.

Several Caterpillar employees have volunteered to use vacation time to travel to the region to help our dealers support their customers and the people of the Gulf Coast.

Bobcat Co., West Fargo, N.D., has responded by sending equipment shipments and offering a deferred loan payment program.

Bobcat officials say that the company’s Litchfield, Minn., factory began shipping industrial grapple attachments to Alabama and Mississippi Aug. 28. Six truckloads of grapples and three truckloads of Bobcat loaders arrived in Mobile, Ala., on Aug. 31.

Also, a portion of factory production in North Dakota, Minnesota and Georgia has been dedicated to satisfying continued need for machines and attachments. Some of the equipment is being shipped to staging areas at Bobcat dealers surrounding the Gulf Coast region, while orders for dealers in the affected areas are being sent. National equipment rental companies have also placed emergency orders.

“We are doing everything we can to help residents and contractors in the region get equipment they need to help with rescue and recovery,” says Joel Honeyman, vice president of sales, North America. 

More than 200 Bobcat industrial grapple attachments have already been shipped, according to Roy Molter, general manger of North American attachment operations.

Molter says other Bobcat attachments like combination buckets, excavator clamps, rotating grapples and heavy-duty loader buckets, will also be helpful in the disaster cleanup efforts.

Also, effective immediately, Ingersoll-Rand Financial Services, the primary finance arm for Bobcat products, is installing a deferred payment program for credit customers—new and existing—who may be unable to make payments for some time.

Deere & Co., Moline, Ill., has announced that it will provide a total of $1 million to support ongoing restoration efforts.

“The human suffering and devastation of this disaster is enormous and is affecting each of us as individuals,” says Robert W. Lane, Deere & Co. chairman and chief executive officer.

John Deere’s equipment division will spend the next few weeks identifying how in-kind equipment donations can be best utilized.

While these donations are being finalized, the John Deere Foundation will contribute $500,000 and will match employee contributions to the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.

Volvo Construction Equipment North America, Asheville, N.C., will also match employee contributions made to the Red Cross Disaster Response Fund. In addition, Volvo will match contributions made by its dealers or principals to the relief effort.