SHIPPING company Scotline has placed an order for two new Hyundai forklifts, increasing the size of its fleet to 20 machines.
The firm, which is headquartered in the south east of England, transports around a tenth of all softwood into the UK, through its liner services from Sweden and Latvia. The majority of this softwood comes across the company’s two terminals in Rochester, Kent and the Port of Inverness.
The majority of Scotline’s fleet is made up of 5-tonne 50DA-9s, with the two latest purchases being 3-tonne 33D-9E machines. These forklifts will be put to work shifting concrete-based products at the Scotline HQ in Kent, the company said.
Speaking on why the firm had opted for a Hyundai fleet, Rob Millatt, project manager at Scotline, said, “The majority of material we handle is sawn timber. We also handle other products and are currently expanding the business into project cargos.
“The 5-tonne machines are tasked with handling timber, whereas the two new 3-tonne forklifts are on specialist duties, moving palletised cement. The requirement was for a 3-tonne lift at three metres, but with a total truck mass of under 5-tonnes.”
He continued, “Because of how we ship the palletised cement, we can only stack it so high and the product is quite difficult to handle, which is why we invested in these new trucks, as they are able to handle them correctly. We also have a weight limit on trucks as we crane lift these forklifts into the ships – these 3-tonne machines are perfect for the job.”
Essex-based dealer Acclaim supplied Scotline’s forklift trucks. Rob said, “In early 2014 we looked into replacing our fleet of aging Hyster forklift trucks as the repair bills were increasing and they were coming less and less cost efficient.
“Speaking with Acclaim we found that their Hyundai trucks would be suitable replacements and were well suited for carrying packaged timber. We were initially looking to buy a couple of trucks, but we upsold ourselves and decided to take ten of the 5-tonne Hyundai forklifts to completely refresh the fleet. We didn’t expand on our new fleet until last summer when we decided to order six of the bigger 7-tonne trucks.
“The new machines are on a 7-tonne chassis but with only a 5-tonne rating therefore a lighter counter balance. We do not need the actual weight, but we do need the larger chassis for the stability when working on uneven surfaces. There’s very little competition in the market for this sort of truck and there are not many manufacturers that make 7-tonne trucks, especially a machine with a 5-tonne variant, just with less counterbalance. From what I can see, there’s almost no competition at all. So, Hyundai most definitely have the advantage there. The fuel consumption is also very good as you’re not dragging around two tonnes of metal that you don’t need.”
He continued, “The key requirements for Scotline were reliability, easy to service and of course cost. We’re also very happy with their overall performance. Down time is low and any issues we’ve had have usually been related to sensors around the emissions control.
“The best features of the machines are probably the comfortable cabs with options for a/c and radio. The basic functionality nowadays is a given, what makes the difference is the things that make people’s lives easier when they’re working on the truck every day.”
Rob added, “When we first adopted the Hyundai brand there was some scepticism amongst the operators initially, being a new truck from a manufacturer we hadn’t owned before and with some new features like the automatic handbrakes. They quickly got over these and are now very pleased with the trucks.”
Ian Taplin, sales manager at Acclaim, said, “We pride ourselves at Acclaim that we offer continuity of account management, service engineers and all-round support to our customers. These factors, along with the proven reliability and minimum downtime of the Hyundai forklift, mean we can supply blue-chip companies such as Scotline, with confidence. We are proud of our ongoing relationship with the company.”
