Shoreham Port has taken delivery of 17 Yale fork lift trucks from Forkway Group to handle the unloading of cargo from ships docking from Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia.
The company needed a fleet of fork lifts that could handle the discharge of loads of timber – up to 30,000 cubic metres per month – which measure up to 7.2 metres in length as well as 60,000 cubic metres of timber stock on the quays and in the warehouses, before being despatched to a whole host of regional timber merchants in the UK.
Shoreham Port also handles the import of gravel and road salt from as far afield as Spain which is then supplied to four local authorities on the South Coast along with the export of grain and wood chip. Interestingly, the company is currently supplying 6mm, 10mm and 14mm chippings to a major UK airport for the construction of a new runway.
The 5.5-tonne Yale VX diesel trucks are fitted with engines to the new Tier 4 European environmental standards.
David Bunker, terminal manager at Shoreham, said: “Many years ago, I worked as a fork lift truck operator so I recognise the importance of driver comfort, especially as our workers can be transporting 1,400 packs of timber over the course of a 12-hour shift.
“The staff are the heart of the Shoreham Port business and we pride ourselves on protecting their well-being. This is why we specified additional features to add greater comfort and a more appealing work environment including heaters, fans, FM radios with a CD player and USB connection.
“The investment in our new materials handling fleet has been really well received. Not only does the deal make commercial sense but the trucks have more sophisticated designs than our previous fleet.”