One of Australia's largest privately owned transport companies, Simon National Carriers, has purchased a fleet of 40 Toyota forklifts, split between 7700 electric reach trucks and 32-8FG25 gas counterbalance forklifts, to be deployed at depots across the country.

According to Simon National Carriers assistant fleet manager Scott Horwood, in recent years the trucking specialist needed to upgrade its forklift fleet and canvassed the products from a range of brands to find the equipment that best suited its needs.

Following an exhaustive testing process, Simon settled on Toyota for both its reach trucks and counterbalance forklifts.

"Toyota was definitely one that I liked from a point of view of what they offered in their reach trucks," he says. "Toyota offers what is called a sit-stand-lean product where they can sit down or fold the seat up and stand up.

"For me, that was a big bonus, in the way it would suit our fleet. If we needed to move a forklift from depot to depot, we didn't have to worry about whether it is a sit-down or stand-up forklift.”

The gas counterbalance forklifts also impressed Simon thanks to a couple of factors including the safety features and easy maintenance of the 32-8FG25 units.

Simon National Carriers’ history can be traced back to the 1920s when it began as a timber company, but by 1973 it had expanded its business to include trucking and transport. Over the decades, it has evolved into an Australia-wide operation, with depots across the nation offering a diverse range of services from warehousing to project logistics and fleet operations.