The UHS Tergo reach truck.

Atlet beat three other companies to supply Nisa-Today's new Scunthorpe national distribution centre with a forklift fleet.

No price was disclosed for the 150-plus forklifts, which are expected to handle more than 1.4 million cases during peak periods.

Nisa-Today's, Europe's largest independent buying group for retailers and wholesalers, ordered 30 UHS Tergo reach trucks, 101 Tempo PPL low-level order pickers and 25 Atlet Presto PLP pallet transporters.

Atlet had been the main supplier to Nisa-Today's facilities for several years but still had to bid for the seven-year contract.

Stephen Hunter, CEO of Re-Vision Logistics, which manages Nisa-Today's national distribution centre, said it was not a "foregone conclusion" that Atlet would be awarded the order despite being Nisa's long-standing supplier.

"Whenever we need new trucks, we set new benchmarks. Are the trucks reliable enough? Are they fast enough and can they lift high enough? Do our drivers like the trucks?

"We don't just look at the price tags but at the whole life costs of truck ownership and the vital issue of after-sales support, including service and maintenance to sustain high truck time," Hunter said.

Nisa-Today's is owned by 560 independent retailers and 350 wholesalers. The buying group's combined member companies' annual turnover exceeds GBP15 billion (USD28.1 billion) a year. Nisa supplies to food and alcohol retailers and wholesalers.