Three forklifts, the German Airforce and an extreme deadline in Darwin, Australia. Linde Australia’s Christine Nolland shares the tale of how an Aussie dealer rose to the challenge of assisting the German military for the recent Pitch Black operation.

For over 40 years, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has been running Exercise Pitch Black in Darwin. The largest exercise of its kind in Australia, over 15 countries, up to 100 aircraft and 2,500 people participate in the biennial event, which features simulated scenarios to prepare the militaries for a modern battle environment. 

This year, the German Air Force joined the exercise for the first time. Lieutenant Colonel Matthias Boehnke explaines: “Germany adopted an Indo-Pacific strategy two years ago. Pitch Black is an excellent opportunity for us to be able to exercise in exceptional airspace and to do so with 16 other nations. Among them are nations with which we do not normally exercise, such as India, Australia, Singapore or Japan. This opportunity lets us learn a lot from one another.”

In July, just four weeks out from Pitch Black, the German Air Force reached out to their Linde Germany contact to arrange short-term forklift hire in Australia.

Not having participated in the exercise previously and being unfamiliar with the Australian landscape, the enormity of this task within the short timeframe was not realised by Lieutenant Colonel Boehnke or anyone else within the German military. 

Back in Australia, a call from Linde’s International Key Account team to Linde HQ set the wheels in motion for a very big task that would see people from across the country and across the world work together. 

On arriving in Darwin, the German Air Force would need more than 200 T of material to be moved, including a fighter plane engine and over 50 sea containers, so they would need some heavy lifters for the job. 

Specifically, they needed a 16 T, a 12 T, and an 8 T truck serviced and ready at the RAAF Base in Darwin, all within four weeks.

The challenge was not only the tight timeframe, but that Linde Australia doesn’t have a warehouse in Darwin, which meant it was up to local dealer Edgar Junkhoff at Forklift Solutions to step in. 

“We received a machinery request with very strange specs, so at first we weren’t sure if it was serious.” 

Rental of such large equipment for a short term is unusual.

Edgar, who is a German native himself, spoke directly with Boehnke. “It was good to speak German again and after speaking to Matthias, I understood their request.”

Forklift Solutions had been renting out equipment to the RAAF and international militaries for Exercise Pitch Black for years. Unfortunately for the German Air Force, this meant other nations had booked out most of Junkhoff’s Linde fleet six months in advance. 

Once Boehnke and others from the Germany Air Force arrived in Darwin, they met with Edgar to come up with a plan. 

“We met with the Germans in our office, and they asked if we could transport equipment from another state.”

Since Germany is about the size of the state of Victoria, it’s understandable that the concept of getting large equipment moved between cities seemed like a reasonable solution.

“I explained that the freight of this equipment would be costly and could take up to two weeks.”

Normally Edgar could cross-hire with another local materials handling business in this situation, but because of Pitch Black, all local equipment was in use. 

So, he would need to get creative. 

As luck would have it, Edgar had a 12 T and 8 T forklift that his team were refurbishing to sell. They prioritised these two trucks and got to work fixing and servicing them ready for use. 

They also had access to a 16 T forklift, which was great, but it was an older truck that would need a lot more work to get up to standard. 

“We worked overtime right up until the day before it was due to go to the Germans!”

Edgar says he is proud of the work that he and his team put in and the happy outcome. 

“I was proud that as a German business I could supply German machines to the German defence. It was a pleasant experience, not only dealing with the Air Force but being a part of the Pitch Black operation.”

And perhaps it’s also no surprise that Matthias found more than just forklifts to talk about with Edgar: “The fact that they also come from Germany was the icing on the cake. So we were able to talk professionally not only about forklifts, but also about German beer.”

When asked if they’d be returning again, Boehnke told us: “We have already been invited by our Australian friends. And yes, we plan to come again in 2024.”

Do you work in or around forklifts? The Forklift Diaries would love to hear your story!