Britannia AuctionsWarehouse and logistics equipment sales in Sunderland
The supplier estates around Washington run on handling equipment. A tier two pressings or trim firm at Pattinson or Armstrong may hold little stock, because parts move to the line as they are called off, but the building is full of powered pallet trucks, tow tractors, stillages, flow racking and chargers. When a supply contract ends with a model change, all of that stops earning on the same day.
We sell that equipment by online timed auction, usually from the supplier's unit. The Washington estates were laid out for articulated lorries, though the yard, the dock and the turning space are still checked at the site visit and described in the catalogue. Buyers arrange and pay for the removal of their lots. Bidding is online, and the trade in Gateshead, Durham, Peterlee and South Shields is close enough to view in person. Tell us through the contact form what the unit holds and the date it has to be handed back.
Supplier stores when the model programme ends
Automotive supply contracts are tied to a vehicle programme, and when the programme ends the supplier either wins the next one or clears the unit. The second case is where we come in. The equipment in a supplier's store is specialised in one sense, in that flow racking, part bins and returnable stillages were bought for a single customer, but the trucks that moved them are standard. A powered pallet truck or a stacker with a current report of thorough examination suits any warehouse.
We lot the trucks individually with hours and examination dates. Flow racking and live storage go by the run, which suits other suppliers on the same estates and fit out contractors. Stillages and part bins go in bulk lots, because a firm that wants fifty wants them in one lot. The battery plant beside the car works has brought new suppliers to the International Advanced Manufacturing Park, and they fit out with the same kind of equipment.
Charger banks and the trucks that sit on them
A shed that runs two or three shifts has a battery charging area, and it is worth cataloguing properly rather than leaving as scrap. Chargers matched to the trucks they serve make a clearer lot than either on its own. Spare batteries, battery changing beds and the extraction fans around them make their own lots, which suit operators already running trucks of that type.
Lead acid batteries need care in the catalogue. We record the voltage and capacity of each battery and the date on the label where there is one, and we tell bidders whether the truck has been charged and run recently or has stood. A truck that has stood flat for months is a different lot from one that came off charge on the viewing day. The maintenance contractors who look after truck fleets across the estates know exactly what they are looking at, which is the argument for honest descriptions rather than optimistic ones.
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 Sunderland
- Our unit at North Hylton has to be back with the landlord in eight weeks. Is that long enough?
It should be. We visit within days of your call, catalogue in the first week and run the bidding for a week or two with a viewing day near the end. That leaves three to four weeks for collection, which on a store of ordinary size covers the trucks, the loose kit and then the racking, in an order agreed with you. If the racking is bolted to the slab, allow time for the holes to be made good before the landlord's inspection. The tighter the date, the sooner the site visit needs to happen.
- Some of our stillages belong to the car plant. How do we keep them out of the sale?
Returnable packaging is often the property of the customer rather than the supplier, and it must go back to them rather than into the auction. At the site visit we walk the store with you and mark what is yours. Customer owned stillages are moved to one area and left out of the catalogue. Anything on hire purchase or lease belongs to the funder until it is settled, and can only be sold with their agreement. Getting this right before the photographs are taken saves an awkward call after the sale.
More questions about warehouse equipment