Historic £53 million order for JCB
Huge fleet deal as Fork Rent place order for 900 new Loadall telescopic handlers in 2013
JCB have won one of the biggest single orders in the company’s history after securing a deal for 900 machines worth more than £53 million from leading UK plant hirer Fork Rent.
The deal for Loadall telescopic handlers cements Ipswich-based Fork Rent’s position as the UK’s biggest hirer of the product and owner of the most modern fleet of this type of machine.
All 900 machines will be manufactured at JCB’s world headquarters in Rocester, Staffordshire, and delivered during 2013.
Fork Rent chairman Guy Nicholls said: ‘Fork Rent and JCB have a great working relationship that spans more than 25 years and that enables us to provide our customers with the latest technology and most highly specified machines.
‘This latest investment in new plant delivers on our commitment to offer customers the highest level of service back-up in our industry, reliability and peace of mind.’
The deal will also mean that Fork Rent become the first major plant hire company to buy the new JCB 540-200 Loadall, Europe’s highest-reach rigid-frame telescopic handler, capable of reaching a height of 20 metres.
Fork Rent say they are adding the 540-200 model to their fleet as part of their commitment to offer customers the most innovative and productive equipment available in the market. The 540-200 machines are fitted with JCB’s new and unique Ecomax Tier 4 Interim/Stage IIIB engines manufactured at the company’s engine factory in Foston, Derbyshire.
Mr Nicholls added: ‘Fork Rent strive to be at the cutting edge of developments in the materials-handling industry. As the first company to invest in JCB 540-200s, we can rightly claim to be reaching new heights in our industry with these machines. With fuel-efficient JCB Ecomax engines under the bonnet, customers can also look forward to lower fuel costs as well as exceptional reach.
‘We are also proud to have bought more JCB telehandlers than any other UK company.’
Fork Rent plc are the UK’s largest privately owned self-drive plant-hire company with a fleet of more than 3,000 machines including JCB backhoe loaders, compact excavators, large excavators, dumpers, access equipment and utility vehicles, in addition to a significant fleet of the highest-specified Loadall telescopic handlers.
The company purchased its first JCB machine in 1987 and since then has invested in more than 5,500 JCB machines through JCB dealer Watling JCB. Fork Rent now offer the full range of JCB telescopic handlers from the ultra-compact JCB 515-40 through to the high-reach JCB 540-200.
