Palletways

David Gough, Palletways’ Health and Safety Manager, said the decision to choose trucks fuelled by LPG followed a campaign by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) to encourage logistics companies, and particularly those handling pallets in confined spaces, to find greener, safer alternatives. He said: “It is very important that we strive to provide the best possible working environment for employees while minimising the impact of our activities on the natural environment.”

Palletways’ trucks are installed with high-powered gas engines and class I catalytic converters, which means the firm will benefit from the same performance levels of a diesel engine but with virtually no emissions and a reduction in noise levels to at least half. Each truck boasts a 70 litre fixed fuel tank which will cut downtime to an absolute minimum, meaning the trucks can literally run all night without having to be refuelled.

“It is very important that we strive to provide the best possible working environment for employees while minimising the impact of our activities on the natural environment.”

As a major supplier to some of the best known brand names in Europe including Boots and Carlsberg, Palletways and its UK network of 106 member companies, operates a 24-hour-a-day service. David said that one of its key aims with changing from diesel to LPG was to reduce noise levels for the company’s employees as well as the surrounding area.

“There’s no time to lose and we employ a team of traffic marshals to keep everyone moving”

“In Lichfield alone, our facility covers 350,000 square feet. We operate a 24-hour service with the majority of our work being carried out in the evening between the hours of 9pm and 6am when between 13,000 and 15,000 pallets are processed every night. There’s no time to lose and we employ a team of traffic marshals to keep everyone moving.

“Ideally, we were looking for a solution to cut noise levels dramatically but to keep productivity the same or even better. Calor’s LPG solution has cut noise levels by five decibels, which is a 40 per cent
reduction compared to our old diesel trucks. The thudding and slapping noise from our diesel trucks
has now gone and we will continue to assess noise levels every 12 months as a matter of course.”

One additional benefit for Palletways following its conversion to LPG is cleaner lights which the company used to have to clean every three months.

According to Bob Peach, Calor’s commercial specialist who worked alongside Palletways during installation and continues to support the company, it’s a benefit companies can expect. He said: “Air quality will certainly be improved with the use of LPG forklift trucks because of reduced emissions. A three way catalytic converter allows forklift trucks to operate in sensitive areas and LPG achieves a 95 per cent reduction in NOx emissions compared to diesel.

As a high octane, cleaner burning fuel, the use of LPG also results in less carbon build up on engines, less oil contamination and less overall engine wear.”

Calor LPG is supplied to each truck via a bulk tank installation at Palletways’ Lichfield site. The tanks, which have Calor’s The ThinkTank® telemetry system installed on them, provide a constant and more
cost-effective source of LPG and make the whole re-fuelling process a lot quicker and easier through
the use of fixed fuel tanks.

For Palletways, the switch to LPG has brought many benefits. Concluding, David Gough said: “Calor’s solution not only meets our current business requirements, it also has an eye on our future expansion aspirations with a plan already in place should our needs suddenly increase and new tanks are necessary.”

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