British Salt supplies more than half of the pure white salt produced in the UK. The site where it all happens, named Salinae meaning “salt works”, by the Romans, is the company’s Middlewich plant in Chester. Here, 400 tonnes of brine are processed per hour, creating a slippery and corrosive environment – precarious for both operator and vehicle.
The company reckoned its previous fleet of electric fork lift trucks wasn’t up to the task, so it approached Mitsubishi Forklift Trucks’ local dealer Jofson for a solution.
“The customer needed counterbalance trucks that could be relied on to work triple shifts in a very harsh environment,” says Nick Astley, Jofson’s sales engineer. “The trucks needed to provide excellent all-round vision, manoeuvre well in tight spaces and offer strength and flexibility.”
The new fleet includes four Mitsubishi FD20CN compact diesel counterbalance trucks and a larger diesel-powered FD20N. “They are powerful, reliable and fast, and their low emissions make them ideal for the client to use both indoors and outdoors.”
Ergonomic features include a fully-floating powertrain, which reduces vibrations, noise and stress.
“The standard trucks are designed to a high specification but to meet the challenges of this particular job we added a number of extra features such as salt protection and soot filtration,” says Astley.
Bob Evans, British Salt’s purchasing manager, says: “We were looking for compact trucks for our warehouse that were able to operate in arduous conditions. They provide good, clear vision and quick on-off access for operators. Repairs are unavoidable, but when they do occur, Jofson has always kept us in the loop and provided good service.”
