Month: January 2020

Briggs Equipment has backed its short term hire solutions for customers across the country with a new £6.1m investment into its fleet. The 272 new Hyster and Yale diesel and electric counterbalance machines take the total number of the short term hire fleet to more than 5,500.

The hire sector is a key area of business for Briggs, both in terms of revenue generation and customer relationship building. These requests often lead to lasting partnerships with customers as Briggs can consistently demonstrate its capability to deliver quality equipment solutions to extremely tight deadlines.

Steve Fogg, Head of Short Term Hire, Briggs Equipment, said: “This latest investment into our short term hire fleet provides us with increased capability to respond efficiently to the wide range of requests that we receive on a daily basis. By having an incredibly diverse set of machines and equipment, coupled with Briggs’ trademark engineering support, we are able to stay ahead of the competition and provide a truly unique offering for our customers.

“With our fleet now growing beyond 5,500, it’s critical that we have a clear programme of improvement and investment in order to keep the average age of our machines under 5 years. This further enables us to provide our customers with the reliable, modern and environmentally-friendly equipment they expect.

“The new units also underline a growing trend of moving towards new and cleaner diesel and electric technology, which also ensures our compliance with all current & future emissions regulations.

“We’re expecting 2020 to be another extremely busy year for our fleet as we continue to increase our capability and reputation across a number of new industries and market sectors. The feedback we’re receiving from customers is extremely positive and we’re looking forward to working closely with them throughout 2020 and beyond.”

Brussels Airport has begun the new year with a reinforced cargo team.

A spokesperson said: “At the end of 2019 Brussels Airport decided to significantly expand and strengthen its cargo team. Cargo was already an import cornerstone in the strategy and development of the airport with a dedicated approach, but earlier in 2019, in line with the new business strategy in which cargo and logistics is 1 of the 4 central pillars, it was decided to centralise the entire responsibility of all activities in the cargo zone (operational, financial, commercial, real estate, …) within the cargo business unit. These activities will remain under the leadership of Steven Polmans, previously Head of Cargo, who at that time was appointed Director Cargo & Logistics.

“In recent months a new structure was drawn up to manage all existing and additional activities and as a result, the cargo team will be significantly expanded with new and adapted functions. In line with this, Nathan De Valck (above) has now taken up the new role of Head of Product and Network Development. He will report directly to the Director of Cargo & Logistics and will be responsible with his team for all business development and key account activities for airlines, forwarders and shippers as well as the further development of the various specializations and products such as pharma, perishables, animal transport and e-commerce.

“In the coming months, the Cargo & Logistics team will be further strengthened with, among others, a head of cargo real estate, business analyst, parc services manager and an operations manager. These reinforcements confirm the importance of cargo for the airport and the clear commitment to further develop Brussels Airport as a leading logistics platform in Europe.”

Employee-owned UK packaging firm Kite has expanded its range of oversized bags, polythene furniture bags, shrink covers and continuous shrink tubing.

The range expansion is supported by the company’s ongoing effort to ensure that a wide range of products can be effectively protected in order to prevent unnecessary waste. Often businesses are not aware of how they can effectively protect larger heavy duty goods and items such as pallets and furniture and extremely large products.

Oversized bags
Commonly used in a wide range of applications for any large item that will fit into the usable dimensions (over 15 sizes available), Kite’s oversized bags are available in both light and heavy duty to suit different applications, light being ideal to protect items in storage against elements such as dust and moisture and heavy duty offering a more robust protection against extreme weather conditions, scrapes, scratches and dirt.

Polythene furniture bags
Kite’s range of furniture bags are the ideal solution when storing and transporting furniture. Available in light duty to protect items in storage from dirt and dust and heavy duty to protect furniture against dirt, dust, scrapes and extreme weather conditions. Each option is available as either gusseted, which fits better to items with even sides such as mattresses, or centre folded suitable for items that don’t have even corners such as sofas.

Shrink covers
Specifically designed for covering full pallets and for use with Kite’s range of shrink guns, Kite’s range of pallet shrink covers offer heavy duty protection against moisture, dirt and theft. Stronger than standard pallet wrap they are manufactured from shrinkable 100 micron high strength blend polythene and are available perforated on a roll or boxed as singles.

Continuous shrink tubing
For use with Kite’s range of shrink guns and produced from 100 micron high strength shrink polythene Kite’s shrink tubing fits pallets with a base size of 1200mm x 1000mm and 1200mm x 1200mm but as its continuous, the height is determined by the user by cutting when required, making it perfect for pallets of any height and awkward loads.

For more information on Kite Packaging and their range of products or services, visit kitepackaging.co.uk.

Maritime Intermodal, a subdivision of Maritime Transport, has launched a new five-day-a-week rail freight service to SEGRO Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway.

The first route will connect the new strategic rail freight terminal at East Midlands Gateway to the Port of Felixstowe, the UK’s busiest container port, and will provide the capacity to move up to 70 containers. The new service is Maritime Intermodal’s seventh daily rail freight service, with further services expected to be announced in the coming months.

Maritime Transport’s 17-acre EMG terminal is capable of handling up to sixteen 775m freight trains daily. The terminal will provide storage capacity for over 5,000TEU – which is equal to approximately 50,000 pallets of cargo – and is the first to connect to the Castle Donington freight line, providing direct access to the UK’s network of rail freight interchanges and all major UK Ports. In order to accommodate the terminal, earthworks took place to dig 25m below existing ground level. The site will also host a new 20,000 sq ft HQ for Maritime Intermodal to house operations staff, state-of-the-art training facilities and parking for a fleet of up to 100 trucks.