Busy paper merchant deploys 12 new dock shelters

One of the UK’s largest independent paper merchants, Denmaur handles over 150,000 tonnes of deliveries a year, worth in excess of £100m. It supplies printers, publishers, designers and end users all over the country, from a network of six branches including the main Leicestershire facility.

The company moved into the new warehouse in May 2016 and immediately started refurbishing and developing it to make it into a state of the art facility that perfectly meets its needs. One of the initial attractions of the building was that it has 12 loading bays, which was ideal because Denmaur has a near-constant stream of lorries, arriving either to deliver stock or to collect orders for delivery to the other branches or customers around the Midlands.

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Denmaur’s Andy Moore, who is deeply involved in the refurbishment, says: “The loading bays all had dock shelters on them, but they were way past their sell-by date. Some had collision damage, some had not been looked after, some were 15 years old.

“Replacing them was a priority, and I wanted to do it during the summer as well so that we had the best chance of good weather.”

Andy contacted loading bay specialist, sara LBS, so areas sales manager, Alan Ryder, visited the site to discuss requirements: “I was able to recommend the use of our standard retractable dock shelters, and together we worked out that the best schedule was to break the installation into two halves. We would take down six of the old shelters and replace and then repeat the process for the other six. This would allow us to get the job done quickly and efficiently, and Denmaur would remain operational throughout. In the end the whole job was completed in four days.”

The dock shelters are compatible with all loading docks from sara LBS. They are based on a 3mm thick PVC Derco side and head curtains. These are mounted in a main frame, which can be made from either galvanised steel or treated timber, while an ‘aerolastic’ wind guy system ensures the curtains remain stable and maintain position throughout their deployment. 

Alan explains: “We offer a number of standard sizes, plus a bespoke design service. There are also a number of special features and optional extras such as yellow traffic marker stitching to aid vehicle positioning and bottom seal curtains."