Mike Penning visits Shipmore

Mike Penning MP visited new business Shipmore Limited who are based in Hemel Hempstead. Mr Penning, whose ministerial responsibilities include Freight & Logistics and Road Safety Standards, viewed a new product called STAKA that saves transport operators money by increasing vehicle fill in freight vehicles - while improving safety for drivers, unloading personnel and road users.

With transport costs rising every year, there is tremendous pressure on transport operators to make the most of their vehicles’ freight capacity. “What happens when you turn up at a depot with a vehicle that can carry 26 pallets and you have 32 waiting to transport?” asks Philippa Bell, founder of Shipmore. “The temptation to stack the extra pallets on top of smaller ones must be tremendous, but this can lead to a significant risk of load slip and collateral damage as well as damaging the goods below and endangering the lives of the driver, other road users and unloading personnel.”

STAKA is a modular double-decking solution to suit most freight vehicles. Comprising a lightweight steel frame with a wooden deck, STAKA stands over a pallet of goods enabling a second pallet to travel above. Both the extra pallet and the STAKA need to be strapped down to the deck of the vehicle but the extra handling involved is small compared to having to send a vehicle out twice.

“The flexible, re-usable nature of our product means that transport operators can equip an entire vehicle with STAKAs to create a complete double-deck, or just one or two pallet spaces - enabling them to carry a mix of tall and small pallets in the same vehicle” says Shipmore’s co-founder, Richard Malczyk. “That’s where STAKA really saves money by improving space efficiency in existing vehicles. The product pays for itself in just a few trips and continues delivering savings thereafter.”

“It’s great to see new innovations such as STAKA in the Transport industry” says Mike Penning, ”Especially those that make our transport operators more competitive while reducing costs, CO2 emissions and road congestion. Making better use of existing road vehicles means higher volumes can be carried with fewer trucks – and that means less cost, less road congestion and less CO2 emissions. That’s got to be good for transport operators, good for the economy and good for the environment!”