Barloworld Handling has invested GBP10 million (USD19.5 million) in its short-term hire fleet over the past 12 months to meet growing demands for rental equipment.

The UK rental fleet company has recently purchased 340 new Hyster forklifts that will be incorporated into its short-term hire fleet. This purchase follows GBP4 million (USD7.8 million) spent in 2007 on replacements and fleet range extensions.

Barloworld is the exclusive distribution partner for Hyster in the UK.
Some of the equipment Barloworld has purchased to add to its range includes high-capacity 7-, 12- and 18-ton Hyster plant for port operations and heavy industry, and a range of electric warehouse equipment including pallet trucks.

Barloworld will also add low-level order pickers, high-level reach trucks for logistics and warehousing operations, specialist equipment such as high-level order pickers, four-way reach trucks and ATEX-compliant 'Pyroban' protected equipment.

Mark Ward, Barloworld's commercial asset manager, claims "when you consider the complete range of equipment we now stock, including our compact range of 5.5 and 7 ton units, we can genuinely boast to be the most complete provider of equipment in this sector".

"Much of the more specialist types of equipment such as big trucks are often unavailable elsewhere or in poor condition".

Barloworld believes increasing its short-term hire fleet will give its customers access to the latest equipment at short notice and help them be more efficient.

"Many of our customers make significant savings by running smaller core fleets and pulling in extra units during periods of seasonal demand," says Ward.