Reversing is safer

The Bristol Port Company has
taken delivery of two
Combilift 4-way forklifts after
winning a new contract with a
Key North American timber
company for undercover
storage at its Royal Portbury
Dock. Due to the increased
volume of timber handled
under the new agreement, the
company needed to improve
storage density in existing
sheds. After investigating a
number of possibilities the
Combilift trucks were deemed
to be the best machines for
optimising space and
increasing operational
flexibility.

Bristol Port is Britain’s most
centrally located deep sea port
and one of the world’s most
productive and technically
advanced. The Combilifts
work in a section of its
recently expanded Forest
Products Terminal which
offers 100,000m2 of
warehousing adjacent to
berths and have replaced
counterbalance trucks which
were previously being used.

Aisle widths are now 4m
rather than the 7m needed for
a counterbalance operation.

“We could have narrowed this
down further,” says
development engineer Paul
Osborne, “but the space
allotted allows for easy and
speedy handling with
minimum risk of product
damage. Travelling sideways
with long loads resting on the
platform offers much better
visibility for drivers and is
much safer than reversing a
counterbalance truck. The
generous 6t capacity and the
6m triple mast also means
that we are not restricted to
this particular application
should we have the need to
handle other products.”