Lift truck uptime keeps freight company on time

Eagle Air Freight is a family-owned, Massachusetts-based air freight company that serves several major East Coast cargo transport hubs. Its 55 employees handle cargo of every quality and size for the New England, New York City, Philadelphia and New Jersey areas. Because every minute counts, the company maintains a fleet of lift trucks capable of handling diverse cargo quickly and reliably.

“If you took your family on vacation and missed the flight by 3 minutes, the airline’s not going to just find another plane,” says Jim O’Brien, head of maintenance at Eagle Air Freight. “We have to deal with that same challenge. The cargo needs to connect to the flights on time, so we can’t afford any last-minute forklift maintenance issues.”

The company currently has a fleet of 28 forklifts (UniCarriers), several of which were purchased in the 1980s. O’Brien says the propane-powered equipment performs diligently in the company’s cold environments. To better manage labor costs, Eagle Air Freight does all of its maintenance work in-house. The ruggedness of the lift trucks has made upkeep an easy task for O’Brien’s maintenance staff, he says, and a nearby dealer is always quick to deliver emergency part shipments and be available in the event of a truck breakdown.

In the end, O’Brien agrees that what makes Eagle Air Freight a reliable transport provider is the reliability of its materials handling equipment. No matter the size, when the company needs to crossdock cargo, its lift trucks can handle the load with consistency and ease.