Fork Rent orders 900 JCB telehandlers

UK rental company Fork Rent has ordered 900 telescopic handlers from JCB in a £53 million (€61.7 million) deal, one of the largest single order’s in JCB’s history.

The new machines, all being built at JCB’s Rocester plant, include the 540-200 Loadall, the 20 m high-reach model. Fork Rent will be the first major rental company to invest in the 540-200.

Fork Rent, based in Ipswich, has been a major customer of JCB’s since 1987 and in that time has bought more than 5500 JCB machines, including its backhoes, through dealer Watling JCB.

Fork Rent chairman Guy Nicholls said; “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.

“Fork Rent strives 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.”

Many of these machines in the order are equipped with JCB’s new Ecomax Tier 4 Interim/Stage IIIB engines. These provide an average 7% increase in fuel efficiency compared to older models.

JCB’s UK & Ireland sales director Dan Thompstone said: “Fork Rent’s reputation for investing in modern and up-to-date machines is well known across the industry…So we’re delighted that Fork Rent is investing in machines that will deliver meaningful benefits to their customers”.

Fork Rent is one of the UK’s largest privately owned rental companies, with a fleet of more than 3000 machines, including backhoe loaders, compact excavators, large excavators, dumpers, access equipment and utility vehicles, in addition to telehandlers.