Medical & Scientific Equipment Transport

We hold an extensive range of cases rather than one size of box. A 24u 19 inch shock mount rack case has twelve tuned anti-vibration mounts rated at 400kg on welded tubular steel frames, which blocks the common trucking vibration frequencies, and at 141kg empty it is not something you throw about, so it travels on the tail lift and gets strapped to E-track. Smaller instruments go into military spec SKB roto shock mount racks with gasketed doors and pressure relief valves, or into Peli Storm cases, the iM2950 taking a 736 by 457 by 216mm base. Screens and displays up to 75 inches have their own foam lined cases. Loose kit gets anti-static bubble wrap, bubble bags and corner protection. If nothing off the shelf fits, we make it.

Access is where jobs are won or lost. The Renault Master Low Loaders carry 500 and 750kg full enclosure tail lifts with air suspension and a 2.5 metre loading height, so a 47u rack goes in upright, and the Trafics will drop below a 2.0 metre car park barrier when the loading bay is underground. On site we use an Innolift mobile fork truck rated to 600kg that travels with the vehicle, so we load and unload ourselves without waiting on the site's own forklift and forklift driver. Scissor lift tables take 350kg from 27cm to 160cm for bench height work. Hydraulic lifters handle up to 1800kg between them for the heavy cabinets. Instruments are wiped down and handed over clean, with the packaging leaving in the van rather than in a corridor.

A lot of medical and scientific kit arrives from a manufacturer in Europe or leaves for a service centre there, and since the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020 that means entries, not just a driver and a phone number. We have our own customs agent in house, which needs a Power of Attorney signed by an officer of your company before we can act. Two things are worth knowing before you plan a delivery date. European customs offices generally close at 4pm and are shut all weekend, and a T1 transit, where we collect the document in the UK and present the goods at the destination office, can take an hour or the whole day. We plan around both.