Volvo CE takes the Silk Road

Because China wants to stimulate the economy in Eurasia, an extension of the Karokoram Highway II is currently underway. This new Silk Road is built by the fleet of Volvo Construction Equipment machines.

In a few decades, China has gone from being an agricultural economy to being a power industrial. The Chinese market construction is the largest in the world and represents about a quarter of the 11 trillion US $ in the country. However, the slowdown in domestic growth in recent years has prompted the Chinese government to invest in an ambitious infrastructure projects to better connect China to the Western world.

The project One Belt, One Road also known as the New Silk Road , will include the rehabilitation of the trade routes through the old Silk Road and the close connection between China and Eurasia. The keystone project, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, is aimed in enhancing industrial cooperation and the connectivity between China and Pakistan. A part of this corridor is a section of road of 102 km Karakoram Highway-II (KKH-II) connecting the towns of Thakot to Havelian in northern Pakistan. The high speed motorway of the crossborder will be built over 42 months, starting in October 2016. Once completed in 2020 it will include 8 lanes, bridges and tunnels.

In charge of the work construction, China Road and Bridge Engineering is mobilizing a fleet of 52 machines Volvo CE including crawler excavators EC220D and EC300DL. The excavators EC300DL will be specifically used for excavation and clearing waste of rock. With a breakout force of 205 kN, the excavator weighing 30 t is equipped with an engine Volvo D7 with the power of 169 kW. The excavator EC220D of 20 t, for its part, is driven by an engine Volvo D6 with the power of 123 kW. On this project, the machines are supported by BRH.