Riding the Rental Wave

In the face of future economic uncertainty, the majority of drilling contractors paused capital investment in favour of flexible hire solutions, leading to a significant surge in demand for rigs. Steph Keane, Sales Director at ground engineering specialist, Skelair International, takes a look at how the UK rental market is shaping up as the country continues to edge out of restrictions.

The UK rental market is especially buoyant at the moment, which is to be expected. Although restrictions have been eased (which will hopefully still be the case by the date of publication), there remains a certain level of unrest when it comes to making major investments.

Rental rigs have always been popular as they allow contractors to trial units on jobs before purchase, enable fleets to be scaled up for short term commitments, and provide access to specialist capabilities for ad hoc commissions. COVID-19 has essentially compounded these benefits by making rentals a low risk solution that has enabled contractors to remain operational in the short term, without having to make any longer term financial commitments. Whether this trend will start to be reversed remains to be seen, but there are a few key observations the team has made recently through the rental side of Skelair’s business.

Responsive rentals

Quick collection has often been a feature in the rental market, but the requested lead times have become increasingly shorter over the last 12 months. So much so that enquiries will come in and the rigs need to be out and operational within days.

The challenge here is availability. Skelair seeks to mitigate this challenge by investing in a regular stream of new rigs. As a modern fleet, the machines are in excellent condition and meet new emissions and drill rig legislation. From the client’s perspective, this helps to present a professional image on-site, and also means they are working with reliable equipment that won’t break down mid-project and cause costly delays.

In addition to quick collection, a common trend is also for longer hire periods. Even when there is an initial short term hire, these now often lead to requests for extensions which result in the rigs being on-site for longer than originally scheduled.

All of these circumstances have led to a shortage in supply of quality machines for hire, which is why maintaining a varied rental portfolio is a key strategy for meeting demand.

A versatile fleet

To ensure a wide range of customer requirements can be accommodated at any one time, the Skelair hire fleet covers many different applications from mini piling, top hammer, rotary to geotechnical drilling.

These include:

• Marini MR-S 80 – a lightweight excavator or frame mounted semi-hydraulic rockdrill for small diameter drilling up to 10-15m depth. The compact lightweight unit allows it to be fitted to a five tonne excavator for rock drilling, Ischebeck and Dywidag in jobsites where larger units would unable to gain access and work.
• TEI Rockdrill masts – the HEM560 is a fully hydraulic excavator mounted with double hydraulic turntable for 3m rod sections. This unit is suited for larger projects and easily fitted to a 20 tonne excavator. The unit is fully radio remote controlled and features a powerful drifter for projects that require top hammer drilling at height.
• EMCI 7.50 – designed for the geotechnical sector, this has seen a high demand with successful hires in the market. The compact rig with a stage V engine comes complete with a high speed rotary head, wireline winch, automatic SPT Hammer, water pump and casing extractor for a variety of geotechnical projects.
• Klemm KR709-3G – these mini piling rigs drill up to 660mm diameter and are always in high demand. The new 2021 version complete with Stage V 175kW engine, full 4” concrete pipework, hose management system and the new KH62 rotary head has impressed on site with its drilling capacity and efficiency.
• Klemm KR702-2R – this restricted access piling rig comes with a separate power pack and telescopic mast. The rig has seen great success in the hire fleet with the new KH25 rotary head, 117kW engine and 508mm clamp. The rig is well suited to restricted access sites due to its compact size and the radio remote control allowing the operator more freedom in operating position.
• Klemm KR801-3GS – these rigs have benefitted from full utilisation in top hammer configuration, complete with KD1011 drifter, on board Bellin water pump and hydraulic rod rack and has been especially successful in the drill and grout sector. The KR801-3GS is also available in rotary configuration for DTH drilling and other rotary work.

This versatile fleet gives customers flexible access to rigs that subsequently become a ‘hire before you buy’ scenario.

From hire to purchase

One of the reasons that Skelair can maintain a modern fleet is that clients will typically want to purchase a rig that they have hired. Drillers prefer operating new rigs and they experience highly reduced breakdowns compared to older rigs. Plus, when hiring through Skelair, all machines are supplied with operator rig familiarisation, which helps to increase operational efficiencies.
Operating in drill rig rentals and purchases gives Skelair unique insight into market trends. While rentals have seen significant upturn, given these often convert into sales as a pre-owned rig, this suggests that companies are still looking to increase their own fleets, but at a slower pace. Moreover, with the rental market having returned to pre-pandemic levels, the balance is already starting to be redressed with new machine purchases. In the meantime, Skelair remains committed to meeting the hire demands by maintaining a market-leading fleet.