The British Industrial Truck Association (BITA) has reported “an exceptionally strong quarter” as its members placed orders for more than 9,000 forklift trucks (FLT), taking the annualised UK FLT market to just over 31,400 units. That, says BITA, represents a 6% increase since December 2003.
Much of the growth in the second quarter was because of substantially increased orders for warehouse trucks. Unit orders for warehouse trucks rose by 41% in the second quarter of 2004, compared with the first three months of this year, while counterbalance models increased by 5%.
According to BITA, the most significant growth has been for low level order pickers, which means a lot of the market increase has come from the distribution sector.
lBITA has published a new operator training guidebook for pivot steer articulated chassis lift trucks. It is the latest addition to a range of BITA publications offering guidance and assistance to trainers, forklift truck operators and end users. The guidebook addresses the special training and operational needs for pivot steer lift trucks. Copies of the guidebook are available from Julie Herbert, BITA’s administration support publications department, tel: 01344 623800.
