Leading transport and logistics company Brit European has a number of long-term contracts with major carpet and flooring manufacturers for the delivery of carpets and rugs from Belgium manufacturers to Carpetright’s 478-strong UK store network. As part of these contracts, Brit European operates a dedicated fleet of 60 box van trailers, all of which are fitted with rear mounted forklift trucks.
Recently, nine of these box van trailers required an upgrade of forklift truck and, for the first time, Brit European chose to specify Terberg Kinglifter trailer mounted fork lifts for this intensive distribution operation.
Commenting on the switch to Terberg Kinglifter, Graham Lackey, Group Managing Director, Brit European said, “These trailers are worked extremely hard every week, with a typical truck and trailer combination handling up to 30 individual deliveries on one journey route. In the run-up to changing our trailer mounted forklifts, we looked at a number of manufacturers. Overall, however, we felt that Terberg Kinglifter gave us the right specification for this particularly demanding job and, most importantly, they fully support their products with an excellent service and maintenance package.”
For all nine trailers, Brit European has specified the Terberg Kinglifter TKL MC model, a compact and powerful forklift truck that has a lifting capacity up to 2,500kg. The new Kinglifter fork lifts are all now in service with Brit European, who anticipate that the Kinglifters will have a minimum of seven years working life and possibly up to 10 years.
“Whenever you change suppliers, it is important that the handover to the new manufacturer runs as smooth as possible. The introduction of the Terberg Kinglifters into our fleet was absolutely first class, with Terberg providing excellent driver training support, which enabled us to benefit from a seamless handover. In addition, all the drivers on this particular contract are extremely happy with the new Kinglifter equipment,” commented Graham Lackey.
Kinglifter truck and trailer mounted forklifts are manufactured at the company’s Terberg Kinglifter plant in Holland, and are in operation within a range of mixed applications for customers throughout Europe. In the UK, the Kinglifter brand is supplied through Terberg DTS (UK) Ltd.
Commenting on this new Kinglifter deal with Brit European, Terberg DTS’s Managing Director Alisdair Couper said, “Terberg Kinglifter offers a proven and popular product range across Europe, where it is highly regarded for its productivity and cost effectiveness. For this latest 9 vehicle deal, we have worked very closely with Brit European to ensure that they have the right specification for this arduous carpet delivery programme whilst, at the same time, ensuring a faultless introduction of the Kinglifters into the Brit European fleet.”