Barloworld Handling is investing £3Million in 140 new diesel and gas powered Hyster forklift trucks for its short term hire fleet to meet growing demand.

"We have seen general market conditions improve over the last 12 months and strong demand return for our short term hire trucks" says Mark Ward, UK Commercial Asset Manager for Barloworld. "Our rental fleet is now highly utilised so we want to increase stock to ensure customers continue to have access to the widest range of machines to suit their needs".

Over the last four years, Barloworld has invested over £12Million in new Hyster forklift trucks for its national short term rental fleet, which is one of the largest in the UK. Recently the company has seen strong demand across all sectors of industry from customers looking to supplement their core forklift fleet with additional units at peak times.

In addition to 1.5 to 5 tonne capacity forklifts required for the majority of operations, Barloworld has high capacity 7, 12 and 18 tonne Hyster big trucks for port operations and heavy industry. It also has a wide range of electric warehouse equipment, which includes pallet trucks, low level order pickers and high level reach trucks for logistics and warehousing operations.

Barloworld believes the profile and condition of its fleet supported by great service is the key reason it continues to stand out in the short term hire segment. "Our ongoing investment ensures the age profile and condition of equipment in our fleet is one of the best in the industry", explains Mark. "In addition, we have a complete range that includes heavy capacity machines, which are often unavailable elsewhere, or in poor condition."

As part of its short term hire fleet, Barloworld stocks specialist equipment such as sideloaders, rough terrain and ATEX compliant ‘Pyroban' protected equipment.

Many businesses are looking to save money by operating smaller core fleets and drawing on short term hire units to cover periods of peak demand. To do this effectively requires a strong partner such as Barloworld that can supply a complete range of quality equipment at short notice on flexible contracts.

With 16 regional short term hire centres in the UK, each with a fleet tailored to the needs of local industry, Barloworld provides great local service to customers whether they require equipment on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis. The Hyster forklift trucks and warehousing trucks can be tailored with a wide range of attachments, such as clamps, hooks and jibs, to suit specialist applications.

All rental trucks supplied by Barloworld are LOLER* certified and maintained by its team of local technicians, who can respond quickly in the event of breakdown.

Barloworld is focussed on raising performance for customers and driving down the lifetime fleet costs through intelligent service provision.