© Friedrich Wildt GmbH

Elvis Teilladungssystem GmbH is expanding its range of services and will also be offering standardized deliveries by truck-mounted forklift at the start of the new year. 50 Elvis partners, who together have over 800 truck-mounted forklifts, have joined the new network. The transports as well as the part load transports are handled via the centrally located Elvis hub in Knüllwald. The new service enables private end customers throughout Germany to be supplied with goods weighing up to two tons and up to 6.5 meters in length.

"A look at the figures proves it: Online trade will remain a growth market for the foreseeable future. And not only are more and more goods being ordered online, but also increasingly heavy and bulky goods. We are now taking this into account with our new offer," says Vanessa Klonnek, member of the Elvis management team. Specifically, this is a truck-mounted forklift network that is affiliated to the Elvis part-load system and to which 50 Elvis partners have already joined. The special thing about it is that it not only supplies business customers (B2B), but also private end customers (B2C).

"Anyone who buys a garden sauna or a greenhouse online today, for example, expects delivery to the destination, namely the garden, and not just to the kerbside," says Klonnek. "However, such transports were often inefficient in the past, as they required special equipment and could not be handled in a standardized way." The result was long waiting times for consumers and high empty mileage rates for hauliers, who often had to send their truck-mounted forklift vehicles on the road for just one delivery. This was neither sustainable nor economical.

Connecting the new truck-mounted forklift network to the Elvis part-load system eliminates these disadvantages. Goods weighing up to two tons and with a maximum length of 6.5 metres can be transported and delivered in a standardized manner. The principle behind this is the same as for other part loads in the Elvis system: the connected companies feed their deliveries into the Elvis hub in Knüllwald, which is conveniently located on the A7, on a daily basis and pick up goods from other partners there, which they then distribute in their home region. This reduces both the specific transportation costs, which benefits the freight forwarder, and the delivery times, which in turn benefits the consumer. Klonnek: "Even the retailer benefits because customer satisfaction increases."

When the truck-mounted forklift network is launched in January next year, the delivery area will initially be limited to Germany. There are already plans to serve routes to Austria, Switzerland, the Benelux countries and Denmark in the future. The truck-mounted forklift network thus complements the existing systems for building materials logistics and the delivery of light and long consignments with the Elvis Lancelot hand pallet truck.