On the spot

One of Sydney’s largest privately-owned combined manned quarantine depot and bond, Price & Speed P/L, is optimising its uptime and efficiency by using Hydraulink mobile service technicians to service and maintain its large fleet of forklifts.

Price & Speed has a fleet of approximately 80 large forklifts (7t to 50t) across its depots, plus a large fleet of smaller warehousing forklifts and another 60 large forklifts being used by their customers through hire or sales agreements.

The forklifts are used to efficiently handle a wide range of tasks, including the movement of bulk materials containers to customer schedules for which optimised forklift uptime is vital.

Hydraulink Botany – a branch of the extensive Hydraulink network, which includes more than 400 service points across Australia, New Zealand and Oceania offering 24/7 service availability – is typically able to respond quickly and be onsite within 30 minutes at either of Price & Speed’s two depots in Banksmeadow and Botany.

“If a single container handler, reach stacker or other forklift needs hydraulic repairs, it can have a huge knock-on effect for a fast-paced business like ours,” says Melody Jacobs, executive assistant of Price & Speed, which provides a range of ports and logistics services including container handling, bonded storage, quarantine freezer and cold storage, fumigation, quarantine inspections and fresh produce and flower depot services.

“If cargos from earlier shipments cannot be processed because the previous ship’s cargo remains at the port, it can cause considerable delays as the queue backs up at the wharf. Furthermore with demurrage fees of up to $1,000 per day, per customer this is not a desirable situation,” says Jacobs.

“Hydraulink’s mobile service technicians are mostly here in a couple of minutes and never more than about 30 minutes. This is a huge advantage for us, so that we can keep operations moving as quickly as possible,” she says.

Price & Speed’s depot locations are all located next to Sydney’s ports, so that customers can save transport costs, and achieve best-practice in quarantine by treating any items straight off the ship. The second Banksmeadow site was recently added to meet strong market demands and double the volume capacity.

“We knew, when setting up the new site, that Hydraulink Botany would be on-hand for any hydraulic service needs, which really put our minds at ease. Their close proximity to our operations is a major advantage,” says Jacobs.

“In addition to the forklifts at our depots, we can’t afford to have a forklift that’s out on hire stop working, because our customers are relying on us for efficiency and uptime. We can always rely on Hydraulink to be on site swiftly and solve any problems, no matter the size or complexity,” says Jacobs.

In addition to quick turnaround times and hydraulic expertise, Hydraulink’s extensive product range is providing major benefits to Price & Speed, where no two jobs are ever the same.

“With such a diversity of equipment and materials handling tasks, every job Hydraulink does for us is different from the last one. Their extensive range of top-quality hoses, fittings, coils and accessories – most of which every Hydraulink mobile technician has on board their large service trucks – ensures jobs can be done quickly and efficiently with the right parts,” says Jacobs.

With cargo constantly being shipped in and out, and delays effecting customers and their customers, the ports, logistics and bulk materials handling industry is one of the most demanding and fast-paced industries in Australia.

Hydraulink Botany branch sales manager, Chris MacGregor places a strong emphasis on service, and understands the demanding needs of local ports customers.

“I was a service technician for about eight years prior to taking on my current role, so I can appreciate the demanding schedules all our ports customers are working to, and the need to maximise uptime and avoid demurrage fees,” he says.

“We’ve got four full-time staff at the Botany branch, and can readily draw upon neighbouring branches and Hydraulink mobile franchises whenever we need more resources.”

“We’re delighted to be able to make such a positive impact on Price & Speed’s operations, and we look forward to approaching any new problems with Hydraulink’s well-known ‘can do’ ethos.”