Warehousing and Distribution

www.yale-forklifts.eu

Logistics lifeline for the Channel Islands

The customer

Condor Logistics has rolled out anew materials handling fleet of 32Yale VL & VT four wheel and threewheel electric counterbalance lifttrucks supplied by the ForkwayGroup to handle the off-loading

“Forkway, spent time getting to know our business in order to gain a thorough understanding of what we actually needed from our materials handling fleet.”Paul Charlton, General Manager of Operations, Condor Logistics

of inbound vehicles and theloading of outbound freightvehicles.

The materials handling

requirement

Established as a RO/RO freightforwarding/logistics company toThe Channel Islands for over 60years, Condor operates freightforwarding services from itsPortsmouth, West Midlands,Jersey and Guernsey Freightterminals. The company has acomprehensive fleet of ambientand temperature controlled,specialised and purpose builttrailers and vehicles fordistribution services to theChannel Islands.

Customer

Condor Logistics

Location

Portsmouth, WestMidlands, Jersey,Guernsey

Products

Yale VL and VT Electriccounterbalance lift trucks

Warehousing and Distribution

www.yale-forklifts.eu

When Condor Logistics was approaching the endof their materials handling contract with itsprevious fork lift truck supplier, Paul Charlton, thecompany’s general manager of operations, whowas responsible for overseeing the replacement ofthe fleet, invited a number of manufacturers totender for the business.

Before an agreement with a supplier was signed, avisit to the NMHG manufacturing plant inCraigavon, Ireland was organised so that Paul,who has an engineering background, could liaisedirectly with engineers and appraise at first-handthe fork lift truck build process.

Commenting, Paul said: “I found the visit toCraigavon to be really informative, especially thequality processes they have in place in the factory,and what really impressed me was the fact thatDave Portway, southern region sales managerfrom Forkway, spent time getting to know ourbusiness in order to gain a thoroughunderstanding of what we actually needed fromour materials handling fleet.”

Although freight movement is planned to increaseto the islands, the 32 VL & VT electriccounterbalance trucks have replaced 35 existingtrucks and have recently been deployed to fourCondor sites in Portsmouth, Solihull, Jersey andGuernsey.

Condor supplies the Channel Islands with allessential and non-essential products which caninclude explosives, controlled pharmaceuticalsand hazardous and dangerous substances, not tomention food and drink. Some of the mostinteresting recent shipments include an originalLowry painting, torches for this year’s majorsporting event, replacement aircraft engines andtemporary cabins for use at the airport at

Guernsey whilst it is being updated. Indeed, themajority of goods needed by the population of theChannel Islands go through the Condor Group.

Paul said: “Yale was the only company whoseproducts met all of our requirements andForkway’s people shone through as a credibleteam who we knew would deliver an exceptionalservice, including on-going maintenance.

“Yale was the only company whose products met all of ourrequirements .”Paul Charlton, General Manager of Operations, Condor Logistics

Warehousing and Distribution

www.yale-forklifts.eu

“In addition, having a product with high frequencyinverter chargers which puts the optimum amountof charge into the batteries, also means that thetrucks can be used for longer which commerciallyis hugely beneficial to us.”

He added: “Around 98 per cent of everythingconsumed or used by residents in Jersey andGuernsey goes by sea and as we are responsiblefor the vast majority of shipping to the islands, itwas vital that the trucks we specified could berelied upon.

“Ultimately, I would say that you don’t buy a flashpresentation; what wins a contract is the quality ofthe product and the professionalism of the peoplewho you’ll be working with on a day-to-day basis.Having seen the quality of build of the Yale modelsfirst-hand, the VL & VT really stood up to scrutinyand the Forkway team’s professionalism reallyshone through. We couldn’t be happier with ourchoice.”

Dave Portway, from Forkway, concludes: “To beselected based on Yale’s engineering capabilitiesis great news. This is our first order with theCondor Group and knowing how the companyprides itself on delivering exceptional customerservice and working with partners who share thesame beliefs is a huge coup for both Forkway andYale.”

Forkway works with Yale’s exclusive UK dealerBriggs.

For further details on the full range of materials handling equipment from Yale please contact:

Yale Europe Materials Handling | Flagship House | Reading Road North | Fleet | Hampshire | GU51 4WD | UK

Tel: +44(0)1252 770700 | yaleeurope@yale.com | www.yale-forklifts.euYALE, the Lift Truck Icon, VERACITOR, the Yale ECO Logo, PEOPLE. PRODUCTS. PRODUCTIVITY., PREMIER, UNISOURCE, HI-VIS, CSS,MATERIALS HANDLING CENTRAL and MATERIAL HANDLING CENTRAL are trademarks, service marks or registered marks in the United States and certain other jurisdictions. The Lift Truck Icon and the Yale ECO Logo are also protected by copyright.