A range of Doosan and Crown materials handling equipment from InServe's Goscor Lift Truck Company at Imperial Retail Logistics' warehouse facility.

A fleet of Doosan and Crown materials handling equipment from Goscor Lift Truck Company continues to ensure efficiency at the Imperial Retail Logistics (IRL) warehouse at Cape Town International Airport.

The facility - including a 4,000-pallet chill room - handles the products of several well-known firms like Diageo, Heineken, Lindt, Beacon, GSK and others.

"We have 20 Goscor machines in total," says Frans Kapp, IRL's compliance manager, "and they have certainly lived up to their performance expectations."

Kapp adds that in complying with food regulations, all the equipment is electrically powered. "We are not allowed any gas- or diesel-powered equipment in this warehouse. All the equipment is battery-powered and this necessitated some extra services like, for example, a state-of-the-art battery bay," he says.

Grant Laight, Goscor Western Cape regional sales manager, says the fleet includes the Doosan B25S-5. "Productivity in an electric truck is a function of three things: speed, control and low energy consumption. All these things have been achieved in the Doosan B25S-5 through a number of exclusive Doosan design innovations," he explains.

The facility also uses a number of Crown order pickers, reach trucks and counterbalance forklifts. "For Imperial, we were able to almost double the reach height of the reach trucks from the standard of about 7 m to 11,435 m and, with the order pickers, we also produced a bespoke height from the standard of 6 m to 9,26 m," Laight adds. "With the help of our Crown partners in Europe, we are almost always able to provide our customers with the specific solution they require," he says.