Saudi Arabia-based Al Shalawi International Holding Company, which specializes in general contracting for civil, mechanical and electric works related to bridges, roads and site development, has become the go-to contractor for construction projects mainly in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom. Al Shalawi boasts a customer base that includes the Ministry of Transport, Saudi Railways Organization, Royal Commission, Saudi Ports Authority, Qatif Municipality, and Saudi Aramco.
Prominent road construction projects that have been delivered recently by the company include 200km of asphalt paving in Al Bisha and 50km of asphalt paving in Al Kharj. Among its fleet of more than 2000 heavy equipment and vehicles, Al Shalawi maintains an upgraded mix of rollers and pavers for construction of main roads, access roads, secondary roads and bridges. Al Shalawi also operates an asphalt and ready-mix batching plant in Dammam.
The majority of compaction and asphalt equipment in the company’s fleet are from Dynapac. In 2019 alone, Al Shalawi added 35 Dynapac machines to its fleet, including 20 soil compaction machines and 15 asphalt compaction and paving machines.
Mohammed Al Shalawi, chairman, Al Shalawi International Holding Company, says: “Al Shalawi has been a major customer of Dynapac equipment in the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia since 1994, because we have found Dynapac to be a trustworthy brand that delivers the highest quality and performance in all our jobs.”
Mohammed Al Shalawi, chairman, Al Shalawi International Holding Company.
Saber Yassen, operations director, Al Shalawi International Holding Company, adds: “We continue to invest in Dynapac machines because of their ease of maintenance and availability of parts, which ensure the long life of the machines.”
Saber outlines the performance and safety features of Dynapac machines that have helped Al Shalawi deliver road construction jobs with the highest standards of quality and safety with the minimum operating costs.
“Dynapac machines, generally, have the best safety features; for example, I like the truck assist feature on the SD2500C asphalt paver, which enables communication between the asphalt truck and the paver hopper. I also like the oil spray system in the Dynapac pneumatic roller which controls the lubricant on the tyres while the machine is in operation and avoids the operator risk of performing the same task manually. In particular, we’re impressed with the Dynapac SD2500C asphalt paver which allows opening of screed without the need for supports rods, thus saving a lot of time and manpower while changing the paving thickness during asphalt works. Also, the slideable plate is a great option which gives the operator more flexibility to control the paving process. The machine has several other features that add value to the asphalt paving process while minimising the time and costs of operation,” says Saber.
Saber Yassen, operations director, Al Shalawi International Holding Company.
Saber describes how Dynapac machines helped overcome some of the challenges faced on projects that could not be handled with other equipment.
“We have faced challenges in achieving compaction thickness for some kinds of sub base and base course materials with a single drum roller and with the lowest number of passes and speed. We have used Dynapac machines because they work with high centrifugal force, with higher frequency at low amplitude. We have also faced issues with marks during asphalt finishing with a pneumatic roller for compaction; but, when we used the new version of the Dynapac CP275 pneumatic roller, we obtained better results with the low tyre overlap due to the unique configuration of 5 front tyres and 4 rear tyres on the CP275 model,” says Saber.
