A Chinese materials handling company has become the Australian agent for Chinese-manufactured Baoli Forklifts.

Alpha Warehouse Solutions, which trades as Alpha Racking, has established a head office in Melbourne, Victoria.

Jiangsu Baoli Group Company Ltd's 2004 sales totaled USD72 million, and it has more than 2,500 staff in four factories across China. The main factory in Ningbo has added Australia to its shipping directory.

Alpha's Australian sales & development manager Jennifer Carey said the Baoli brand had received "a huge response" at the Matex exhibition in Sydney (Forkliftaction.com News #263).

"Chinese goods usually get a mixed response but people have been very surprised and have recognised the well-known, well-designed quality parts, that we're on the money, and have demonstrated our willingness to do packages," she said.

Ms Carey said although forklifts were not Alpha's core business in Australia, that created an advantage over Australian competitors.

"Because forklifts are a small part of the business, we can keep prices down and offer them as part of a package of warehouse solutions," she said.

Apart from Baoli forklifts, Alpha's product range included fully adjustable, steel pallet and cantilever racking.

The Baoli range includes 1.5 tonne to seven tonne forklifts. They are Italian designed, have Mitsubishi motors, Impco gas conversions and Cascade attachments.

Alpha has warehouses in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Director Paul Athana said Alpha was keen to move quickly to consolidate the business across Australia. It planned to have distributors in every state and be fully operational before the end of September.