Internal road network for a sugar cane plantation

In order to increase productivity, a Brazilian company decided to pave the around 60 km internal network of roads through its plantations – and demonstrated a real DIY approach to it: instead of commissioning a road construction contractor to carry out the project, the company went ahead and invested in a Vögele paver and a Hamm roller and had its own workers trained in the skills of asphalt paving. The results are impressive, and have the potential to reduce logistics costs by 25%.

Usina Alta Mogiana in São Joaquim da Barra, in the north of the São Paulo region, is a big player in both the sugar cane and cane sugar markets: it has an annual production volume of more than 10 million sacks of crystalline sugar and hundreds of millions of litres of ethanol biofuel. The pressed biomass remaining after extraction of the raw cane juice is used for the generation of sufficient electricity to meet the company’s own needs and a surplus that is fed into the power grid. At the gigantic agro-industrial complex, around 300 machines – ranging from tractors to sugar cane harvesters – are at work during the harvesting season.

Asphalted internal road network for better logistics

The internal road network on the plantation has an overall length of around 60 km – about the same as in a smaller city. However, in summer, the region is frequently plagued by torrential rain. This softens up the gravel tracks, causes wash-outs and makes the roads almost impassable. The consequence: high road maintenance and repair costs, extreme wear and tear and costly repairs on the heavy goods vehicles that transport the harvested sugar cane from the fields to the sugar mill. At the same time, vehicles can only drive relatively slowly on gravel roads. ‘We wanted to pave the roads with asphalt to improve the traffic flow and transport logistics on the plantation and increase safety,’ explains Carlos Puerta, Head of Agricultural Crop Production.

The Vögele SUPER 1400 paver:
the ideal machine for the job

The choice was made: a Vögele SUPER 1400 road paver and a HD 90K roller from Hamm. The tracked paver is characterised by its robust undercarriage and material conveying system and compact dimensions that make it easier to manoeuvre on the plantation roads. In combination with an AB 480 extending screed including tamper and vibration compacting systems, the SUPER 1400 achieves a high degree of pre-compaction and paving widths between 2.55 m and 4.80 m and, with bolt-on extensions, even up to a width of 6.3 m – the ideal solution for the requirements in São Joaquim da Barra: The asphalt was paved in two strips with a width of 4 m each with a 5 cm binder course and a 3 cm surface course over the entire 60 km of the road network.

The machine’s powerful drive system and a laydown rate of up to 600 t/h reduced the weather-related risks on the project: the paving crew took full advantage of the short dry breaks in the weather and was able to pave relatively long sections of road at a time. At the same time, the efficient cooling system ensured reliable paving operations, even in tropical conditions.

The simple operating concept makes personnel training easier

The applications and service technicians from the Wirtgen Group provided comprehensive training for the plantation workers with a particular focus on applications technology. Paving high-quality asphalt roadways was quite a challenging proposition for the agricultural specialists. In contrast, the operation and maintenance of the machines was comparatively easy even for the less experienced users: The structure of the ErgoBasic operating concept of the SUPER 1400 is highly intuitive and provides all basic functions for the realisation of high-quality paving results. Logical symbols, a clearly laid out control panel, rugged operating consoles and easily legible function and status indicators assist the machine operator in all working procedures.

Efficiency and lower costs

The effort and the investments paid off in the end: The asphalt paving considerably reduces Usina Alta Mogiana’s maintenance costs for the internal road network and its vehicle fleet, while the elimination of the need for road maintenance and repairs alone can save the company annual costs of around 7 million reals (close to 1.2 million euros). At the same time, the transportation times from the fields to the sugar mill are shorter. Overall, it is expected that the reduction of transport logistics costs could be in the region of 25%. Thanks to its own machines and trained personnel, the company is now also ideally prepared for the flexible expansion of the plantation’s road network should the need arise.