Three questions come up in every first conversation with a new dealer: how many machines fit in a container, how long the order takes, and what happens when something breaks. Here are honest answers to all three.
1. How many units fit in a 40 ft container
This is the number that decides whether an order makes commercial sense, and it varies enormously — by a factor of five — depending on what you order. These are the figures we work to for our own models:
| Machine | Units per 40 ft container |
|---|---|
| Electric pallet truck, 1.5 t, pedestrian | 114 |
| Electric pallet truck, 1.5–2.0 t, lithium, compact | 140 |
| Electric pallet truck, 3.0 t, compact | 114 |
| Electric pallet truck, 2.0 t, with operator platform | 22–44 |
| Electric pallet truck, 3.0 t, rider | 22 |
| Semi-electric pallet truck | 114 |
| Electric stacker, 1.0–1.5 t, up to 3.5 m lift | 35 |
| Electric stacker, 1.6–2.0 t, 3.6–5.5 m lift | 22 |
| Semi-electric stacker | 45 |
| Self-lifting stacker, 0.5 t | 35 |
| Counterbalanced stacker | 22 |
| Reach truck, 1.5–2.0 t | 22 |
| Electric counterbalanced forklift, 1.5 t | 15 |
The pattern is simple: the mast is what costs you container space. A pedestrian pallet truck with no mast stacks flat and tight. Add an operator platform and you lose half the load. Add a 3-metre mast and you are down to a third. Add a counterbalance chassis and you are at an eighth.
For a first order, that maths matters more than unit price. 114 pallet trucks in one container at a low landed cost per unit is a different business from 15 forklifts in the same box.
2. Mixed containers
Very few dealers start with 114 of one model, and they should not have to. A mixed container — several models, several capacities, in one shipment — is normal and we plan loading around it.
Two practical points. First, mixing works best when the bulky items go in first and the flat ones fill the gaps: masts and platforms at the back, pedestrian trucks and hand trucks packed around them. Second, ask for the loading plan before you confirm the order, not after. A supplier who cannot show you how the container is packed has not thought about it.
3. Lead times
For a Chinese manufacturer building to stock, expect a standard model in a standard configuration to ship faster than a specified one. What moves the date:
- Standard configuration — shortest. Lead-acid battery, standard mast, standard fork length, factory colour.
- Non-standard mast, fork length, or fork width — adds time, because the mast is built to order.
- Lithium battery — depends on cell supply, and it fluctuates.
- Your own colour and logo (OEM) — adds a painting cycle, and normally a minimum quantity.
- Chinese New Year — the single biggest factor in the calendar. Factories close for two to three weeks, and the two weeks before and after are congested at the ports. Orders that need to land in Q1 should be placed in November.
Ask for the lead time in writing with the quotation, and ask whether it starts from the order date or from receipt of the deposit. Those are different dates and the gap can be two weeks.
4. Terms and documents
Most Chinese manufacturers quote FOB at a named port — for us, FOB Shanghai. That means the price covers the machine delivered onto the ship; sea freight, insurance, import duty, customs clearance and inland delivery are yours. If you want a single all-in number to your warehouse, ask for CIF or DAP instead and compare like with like.
The documents you should expect for every shipment: commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, and the certificate of origin. Ask up front which HS codes will be declared — most electric warehouse trucks fall under 8427, and your customs broker will want to know before the container arrives, not after.
5. Spare parts — the honest version
This is the question that separates a serious buyer from a casual one, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a slogan.
Most Chinese manufacturers, including us, do not operate a central spare-parts warehouse in Europe. Anyone who tells you otherwise should be asked for the address.
What makes it workable in practice is that these machines are built from widely used industrial components: Curtis controllers, standard-format traction batteries, commercial gearboxes, polyurethane wheels in standard sizes. A good proportion of what fails in the first years — wheels, seals, contactors, switches, hydraulic hoses — can be sourced locally or cross-referenced to a standard part.
For the rest, the arrangement that works is simple: a small stock of wear parts shipped in the same container as the first order, at a favourable price, so the parts are already on the dealer’s shelf before the first machine needs them. Beyond that, individual parts go by express courier.
When volume justifies it, a parts stock held at the dealer — effectively a regional parts depot — is the natural next step. That is a conversation to have at the second or third container, not the first.
6. What to ask before your first order
- How many units of this exact model fit in a 40 ft container?
- Can you send the loading plan for a mixed container?
- What is the lead time, and does it start from order or from deposit?
- Is the quoted price FOB, CIF or DAP, and at which port?
- Which HS code will be declared?
- What wear parts do you recommend stocking with the first order, and at what price?
- What is the warranty period, and what is excluded?
- Which components are branded, and which are generic?
- Can the machine be supplied in our colour and with our logo, and from what quantity?
A manufacturer who answers all nine clearly is one you can plan a business around. One who answers three of them is one you will be chasing for the next two years.
Accelift builds electric pallet trucks and stackers at its own factory in Huzhou, Zhejiang, and exports to more than 40 countries. If you are considering a first container, tell us the models and quantities and we will come back with a loading plan and a quotation.