Cooper ‘triple-up’ with iPort Rail
07 February, 2020
iPort Rail and Cooper Specialised Handling Ltd have announced a new partnership that will see the amount of reach stackers at our terminal triple.
Cooper is also planning to occupy a ‘purpose-built’ reach stacker workshop, which act as a hub for the region as a whole and support our long-term growth strategy.
The new machines will be four Sany 4540GS machines with a 7000mm wheelbase and support jacks to handle fully laden containers from the second rail line at iPort Rail. These four machines will triple iPort Rail’s Sany fleet where Cooper supplied two 4535 reach stackers when the terminal first officially opened in 2018.
The workshop was purpose-built to accommodate reach stackers, and which represent the highest property standards for this niche handling sector. Cooper will adopt this workshop and fully equip it in order to deliver a total maintenance facility. This will include a stores and stock-control system together with dedicated on-site resident staff enhance machinery uptime on the terminal. This same facility could additionally help iPort Rail’s customers with a trailer and container repair service.
“This is a perfect win-win for both Cooper and iPort Rail. iPort Rail’s customers benefits from a growing fleet of state-of-the-art machines for second-rail handling and an on-site engineer. Cooper’s gain an operating depot in a strategically-important location from which we can distribute machines and rentals as well as undertaking machine repairs and overhauls for the wider community.”
David Cooper, Executive Director of Cooper Handling Group
“The addition of these new reach stackers will be a welcome enhancement to our fleet, boosting our overall loading and unloading capacity, minimising downtime and helping our customers to save on valuable time and costs.”
Steve Freeman, Managing Director of iPort Rail
Cooper will take occupation of the workshop with immediate effect, with the four extra machines coming into operation in late spring of this year.