Canadian quarry puts North America's first LiuGong 995F excavator to work

When Ocean Contractors needed to replace a production excavator at their Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, quarry, the timing was less than ideal. Their 90-tonne-class excavator had already been running over 16,000 hours when an engine oil sample indicated an imminent problem, accelerating the need to find a replacement in a size class that is not typically available off the lot.

As it happened, representatives from Atlantic Equipment were sitting across the desk from Steve Wellwood, vice president of Ocean Contractors, when he received the news.

"I said, ‘Do you have a 95-tonne excavator?' James said, ‘Yes, we do.' And I said, ‘Could you give me one?' And he said, ‘Yeah, I certainly can,'" Wellwood recalls.

The excavator Atlantic Equipment owner James Bond had in mind was the LiuGong 995F. Ocean Contractors had never owned a LiuGong excavator, and the 995F had no established operating history in North America. Today, that machine is the first LiuGong 995F sold and operating in North America, and it occupies a critical position in the company's quarry operation, loading blasted rock for delivery to the primary crusher.

Ocean Contractors puts LiuGong 995F to work in high-production quarry

Ocean Contractors has worked at the quarry site in Nova Scotia since 1974 and purchased the operation roughly two and a half years ago. The acquisition gave the roadbuilding and construction contractor ownership of a quarry it had operated from for decades, supplying aggregates for its own operations as well as outside customers.

About 30 percent of the material produced at the quarry is consumed internally by Ocean Contractors' operations, including its ready-mix concrete and asphalt production. The remaining 70 percent is sold to other customers.

The quarry processes approximately 8,000 tons of material per day, and the 995F works at the front end of that production process. Following blasting, the excavator loads rock into Cat 772 haul trucks for transport to the primary crusher.

Previously, Ocean Contractors relied on a combination of its outgoing 90-tonne-class excavator and a production-class wheel loader to keep that process moving. Replacing the high-hour machine meant filling a key position in an operation where maintaining production depends on keeping material moving to the crusher.

Why Ocean Contractors chose the LiuGong 995F excavator

Ocean Contractors' relationship with LiuGong equipment had started on a much smaller scale. Atlantic Equipment had previously supplied them with a LiuGong 6612E roller and a CLG 2040H heavy-duty industrial pneumatic tire forklift, giving Ocean Contractors some experience with both the OEM and the dealer behind it. Introducing an unfamiliar 95-tonne excavator into a production-critical role was a considerably bigger investment.

After that first conversation with Bond, Wellwood began comparing the 995F with alternatives from several established manufacturers, looking at fundamentals including operating weight, horsepower, and hydraulic pressure.

"There's nothing that jumps out really," he says. "I was looking at four different machines, all different manufacturers, all in the same weight class, and they're all very similar. The specs are all very similar."

The 995F lined up with what Ocean Contractors needed from the size class, while major components, including a Perkins engine and hydraulic components from Kawasaki and Bosch Rexroth, provided some familiarity behind a less familiar trade dress.

Affordability was another consideration, and Atlantic Equipment's offer to take the high-hour excavator on trade simplified the replacement by giving Ocean Contractors a way to move the old machine at what Wellwood considered a fair value.

The business case for the 995F extended beyond the machine's specifications and the terms of the deal. With Ocean Contractors considering an unfamiliar excavator for a critical production application, the dealer behind it was another important part of the equation.

Atlantic Equipment prepares to support North America's first LiuGong 995F

Wellwood had known Bond for years before Atlantic Equipment became a LiuGong dealer, and that existing relationship gave Ocean Contractors a level of confidence that would have been difficult to establish through specifications alone.

Atlantic Equipment is also located only minutes from the quarry, putting service support close by. Bennett Gaskin, territory sales manager, says the dealer considered its ability to support the 995F from the outset.

"You can always sell machines, but if you can't service [them], you'll never sell another one," he says.

With the 995F headed for a production-critical role, Atlantic Equipment's commitment had to extend well beyond the initial sale.

"Are we going to be able to service this? Are we going to be able to look after this machine to make sure it gets through its life cycle and it works the whole way and doesn't have any downtime?" Gaskin says.

Answering those questions required preparation before North America's first 995F ever reached the quarry. Bond knew the contractor's operation and the consequences if a machine in this role went down.

"When you're putting that kind of machine into an operation that hinges on it being running and successful, you want to make sure that you've done your homework," Bond says.

Atlantic Equipment leaned on LiuGong North America for additional technical support. LiuGong personnel assisted with assembly and training when the machine arrived in January 2025, and Atlantic Equipment's Red Seal technicians received additional training specific to the 995F.

The dealer worked with Ocean Contractors to determine which critical spare parts would be kept available. The contractor stocks routine maintenance items, such as filters, fluids, oils, and GET, while Atlantic Equipment expanded its local parts inventory and increased parts storage in Katy, Texas, specifically to support the 995F and minimize downtime.

Atlantic Equipment remains Ocean Contractors' primary point of contact. The dealer performs the machine's maintenance and has handled any service requirements that have arisen under warranty.

LiuGong 995F proves its capabilities in high-production operation

The real test, however, has taken place at the rock face.

After roughly 3,000 operating hours, Wellwood estimates that the 995F had accumulated only about one day of downtime. This increased uptime has allowed Ocean Contractors to consolidate much of the truck loading work that was previously handled by the older excavator and wheel loader, freeing up the wheel loader for other work.

"It filled that gap 90 percent of the time," he says. "It saved us quite a bit."

Curtis Isenor, Ocean Contractors' rock-face excavator operator, appreciates to the 995F's digging performance and responsiveness, describing the machine as having "lots of stick power" with fast bucket and swing functions.

The 995F's performance also addresses one of the questions that came with choosing a less familiar machine: whether the contractor would give up anything in production.

"Quite frankly, it really hasn't missed a beat," says Bond.

For Wellwood, the result has reinforced the decision to look beyond the brands already established in his fleet. Ocean Contractors is not committed to one equipment manufacturer. Instead, the machine has to suit the application and be backed by a dealer capable of supporting it throughout its working life.

"To me, it's a partnership," he says. "If they can service us, and LiuGong makes decent equipment, and they've got the parts . . .  we'll continue to do business with them."

That support network is expanding. At the end of August 2026, LiuGong announced the establishment of a LiuGong Canada subsidiary, which Gaskin says will provide Atlantic Equipment and other Canadian dealers with greater access to parts inventory and will increase machine availability across the country.

The LiuGong 995F establishes a track record in Canada

Putting the first 995F into service required that Atlantic Equipment and LiuGong prepare technicians, establish parts inventory, and bring in factory expertise to support the machine in a new market. It also established something neither had before: a North American operating record for the 995F.

That experience now gives other Canadian contractors considering an excavator in this class something beyond specifications or examples from other markets to evaluate.

They can now point to one with thousands of hours in a high-production Nova Scotia quarry.

Being first was never Ocean Contractors' objective. The company needed to replace a high-hour excavator with a machine capable of meeting an established production volume. The 995F happened to be available, its specifications fit the application, and the economics made sense.

What made the unfamiliar choice viable was the support behind it.

This article originally appeared in the 2026 Excavators special issue of Heavy Equipment Guide.