Britannia AuctionsWarehouse and logistics equipment sales in Portsmouth
Portsea Island is short of space. That shapes every stores and warehouse on it. Marine engineering and defence electronics firms at the Airport Industrial Estate and around Fratton keep parts stores that go up rather than out, with mezzanines, high longspan shelving and narrow aisle trucks in units that were never meant for them. When a contract ends or a firm moves to Dunsbury Park at Havant for the room, the old fit out has to come out through a small yard on a road with parked cars on both sides.
We sell warehouse and logistics equipment by online timed auction and we plan the collection around the building. What vehicle can reach the door, where it can turn and what there is to load with are checked at the site visit, and the findings go into the catalogue so buyers know before they bid. Either way, one person runs your sale from the first visit to settlement. Use the contact form to tell us what you have.
Component stores behind the assembly lines
A defence electronics or precision engineering firm does not run a warehouse in the usual sense. It runs a stores. Static shelving with small parts bins, ESD matting and benches for kitting, a mezzanine over the goods in area, a compact reach truck or a stacker for the racking at the back, and label printers, pallet scales and a stretch wrapper at despatch. It is easy to undervalue because no single item is large.
Sold as a whole it adds up. Bin shelving goes in runs, which suits other stores, electronics assemblers and repair shops. Longspan and pallet racking suit anyone with a unit to fit out. The stacker or reach truck is the headline lot, and the hours and the latest report of thorough examination are what a bidder looks at. We catalogue by area so a firm in Havant or Waterlooville that wants the despatch kit can bid for that alone, and we photograph the shelving loaded, because empty shelving photographs badly and the pictures do much of the work.
Moving racking off the island
Racking is bulky and the roads on Portsea Island were not laid out for the lorries that carry it. The M275 brings a vehicle in easily enough, but the last half mile to a unit at Hilsea or Fratton can be narrow, and a yard may hold one lorry at a time, so we measure and record rather than assume. Collection then runs by appointment. The buyer's dismantling crew usually takes the last slot, once the forklifts and the small lots have gone and the floor is clear, and that order is agreed with you.
Where the unit has no yard at all, the equipment can be collected to our premises and sold with other consignments. That suits the smaller marine trades at Trafalgar Wharf and the older workshops at Cosham and Paulsgrove. The trade in Gosport, Fareham, Chichester and Southampton is within reach of a viewing day, and dealers bid from across the UK and send a haulier for what they win.
What these sales can include
- Counterbalance forklifts
- Reach trucks
- Powered pallet trucks
- Hand pallet trucks
- Pallet racking
- Mezzanine floors
- Longspan and cantilever shelving
- Conveyors and sortation
- Roll cages and stillages
- Stretch wrap machines
- Pallet scales
- Battery chargers
- Order pickers and stackers
- Dock levellers and loading equipment
How the sale runs
After a site visit we agree what is in the sale and what stays. We catalogue and photograph each lot, list the sale online and market it to warehouse operators, dealers and contractors. Bidders view on a set day, then bid online over the sale period, with lots closing in sequence.
Lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, with buyers expected to inspect before bidding. The buyer pays the hammer price plus a buyer's premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately. We collect payment before release.
Collection runs over a window agreed with you. Buyers arrange and pay for the removal of their lots, with suitable handling equipment or specialist contractors where the item needs them. Our staff attend to release lots against paid invoices and see that dismantling is done safely.
The warehouse and logistics equipment sales page covers racking and how it comes down, forklifts and the records that matter, the small equipment adds up, timing a sale around a site handover.
Questions about selling in Portsmouth
- Our unit at Hilsea has a small yard and the road outside is parked up. Can a buyer's lorry get in?
That is a question for the site visit rather than the postcode. We measure the turning space, the door height, the yard and where a vehicle can wait, then state in the catalogue what size of vehicle the site takes, so nobody bids on the wrong assumption. Collection runs by slot, one vehicle at a time. If the yard is too tight even for that, the equipment can be collected to our premises in one visit and sold from there, where that is agreed with you.
- Some of our shelving was paid for under a defence customer's contract. Can we sell it?
Only if the customer agrees, and it is worth checking early. Contract stores for defence and marine work sometimes include shelving, bins or handling equipment that the customer funded or that appears on their asset register. A truck on hire purchase or lease remains the funder's property until it is settled, so it can only be sold where they agree in writing. We ask for the paperwork at the site visit, list what is clear and hold anything doubtful until the position is settled.
More questions about warehouse equipment