Hyster trucks bear fruit for Hammond
February 1st 2011 George Hammond has bought ten Hyster
trucks for its Port of Dover operations
George Hammond is the only general stevedoring and
freight handling company at the Port of Dover. The
company discharges and stores fresh produce from ships
operated by Africa Express Line and Seatrade Reefer pool with
weekly services from West Africa and Central America.
Typical cargo includes palletised bananas, pineapples and melons
for brands such as Delmonte, Compagnie Fruitière, Simba,Mack,
Fyffes, Canavese, SH Pratt and Keelings and leading supermarkets,
which are now sourcing supplies direct from the producers.
"We provide an efficient, fast, safe and careful produce
handling operation at the Port of Dover and the materials
handling fleet is a critical element" explains James Ryeland,
managing director of George Hammond, Port and Marine
Services. "We need maximum availability from the forklift fleet as
the ships have to be in and out quickly and the produce sorted
and transferred immediately into temperature controlled store or
direct to transport."
Ten new Hyster H3.5FT Fortens Advance LPG forklift trucks
with 3,500kg lift capacity have recently been delivered to bolster
the George Hammond operation.With a total fleet of 30 units,
George Hammond handles approximately 6,000 pallets a week,
300,000 pallets per year and on average despatches approximately
70 road vehicles a day for UK and European distribution.
Cranes transfer pallets from the ships to the quayside where
the new Hyster trucks, fitted with double and treble pallet
handlers, transport the perishables directly into ambient transit
sheds aligned to the quayside. The produce is then scanned and
either cross docked and loaded straight onto customer vehicles,
or immediately transferred to the 5,500 pallet capacity
temperature controlled store which has ten chambers covering 0º
to +15ºC and features new ethylene scrubber units.
"We are usually the first port of call for these vessels and the
majority discharge only part cargoes at Dover," Ryeland says,
explaining that cross docking at Dover for continental
distribution reduces shipping time and makes use of low cost
empty vehicles returning to the continent. Containers holding
cherry tomatoes, sweetcorn or beans are also received for
receivers Dole Fresh UK and Barfoots of Botley.
Ryeland concludes: "Sometimes the ships arrive back to back,
so a reliable forklift fleet is essential for continuous operation
and to ensure we offer a 24 hour service.We own our trucks and
maintain them ourselves with full support from Barloworld.
"We have bought Hyster equipment for many years as they
are extremely robust machines.We bought a different branded
fleet five years ago that did not stand the test of time, unlike
Hyster trucks purchased in the early '90s that are still in
operation today and used as
spare trucks." More articles from Barloworld Handling Limited: | 
