Briggs Equipment has invested £5.5 million (about U.S. $9.1 million) in its short-term rental fleet as part of a £20 million transition plan to become the United Kingdom’s leading distributor of Yale Material Handling Equipment. The new fleet of 450 Yale machines consists of a range of counterbalance trucks, order pickers, power pallet trucks and reach trucks taking the total Yale product range to more than 900 units with an average age of less than 18 months.

“We have made a huge step in our transition plan of replacing all of our old short-term rental machines in the fleet with new Yale trucks,” said Briggs Equipment asset manager Allan Parsons. “STR fleets are usually made up of very old equipment, which come with high maintenance and repair costs. Our machines are new, which will see fewer breakdowns and keep service costs to a minimum.”

Currently Briggs U.K.’s rental fleet is 30 percent Yale and the company plans to increase that percentage to 55 percent during the next six months.

With U.S. headquarters in Dallas, Briggs U.K. is based in Cannock, Wolverhampton, U.K.