Orbital goes for Sterling Miniload lightweight beavertail on 12 tonne DAF XB 320
Orbital Equipment Ltd - one of the South's leading plant hire companies, with a fleet of over 700 machines ranging from 1T dumpers to 35T excavators has chosen the
Sterling Miniload body mounted on a DAF XB 320 12-tonner. Orbital required a robust, lightweight solution for transporting compact plant to inner-city construction and residential sites. The Sterling Miniload offered the perfect combination of urban mobility, dependable performance, and operator safety. Its compact dimensions, paired with a durable yet lightweight design, enabled Orbital to meet high-frequency, short-range transport demands efficiently - especially where access is limited.
With increasing work in housing developments and local authority projects, this build offers Orbital maximum flexibility without sacrificing load integrity or strength. You can check out the range of Sterling Miniload products here: Miniload - Sterling Plant Bodies 
The Sterling Miniload is a compact beavertail plant body, purpose-built for light-duty plant transport in tight-access urban environments. Compatible with chassis from 7.2 to 14 tonnes, it combines manoeuvrability, strength, and smart design to meet the growing demand for inner-city and short-haul plant movement.
- Lightweight, Not Light-Duty: Built with Sterling's heavy-duty DNA, offering strength and dependability despite its smaller chassis footprint.
- Simplified for Reliability: With fewer components and clean, functional design, the Miniload reduces maintenance demands and increases uptime.
- Safety-Centric Loading: Includes a double-bend beavertail and safety-first ramp design to protect operators and machinery on uneven or restricted sites.
- Versatile Kit Transport: Ideal for moving mini diggers, scissor lifts, micro excavators, and compact tools - flexible across mixed plant and tool fleets.
Urban-Focused Agility
With a compact footprint and highly manoeuvrable form factor, the Miniload is optimised for:
- Inner-city construction
- Residential housing developments
- Estate and council sites
- Short-haul transport on restricted routes
- Whether weaving through tight streets or accessing backfill or landscaping zones, it's designed to reach the jobs that standard plant bodies can't.
Built for the Urban Grind Despite its lighter classification, the Miniload is crafted with the same engineering standards as Sterling's larger builds.
With heavy-duty low-profile crossmembers, 300mm spacing, and a double-bend beavertail, it can safely and reliably handle compact machinery like:
- Mini excavators
- Scissor lifts
- Track dumpers
- Compressors and small access equipment
