Beecraft delivers plastic pallets across Manchester and the North West from its Coventry depot, straight up the M6. The range covers hygienic food-grade, heavy-duty, lightweight and export pallets, plus freezer spacers, pallet boxes and crates for chilled and frozen work. Stock lines reach Manchester addresses next working day.
Trafford Park opened in 1896 as the first planned industrial estate in Europe and is still one of the largest — a grid of numbered Avenues and Streets between the Bridgewater Canal and the Manchester Ship Canal. Food and drink has been the constant through all of it.
Cereal, bakery, confectionery, brewing and soft-drinks filling all operate inside the estate or within a couple of junctions of it, and around them sits the infrastructure that keeps the region’s chilled and frozen supply moving: cold stores off the M62 at Heywood and Middleton, big sheds through Salford and Warrington, container traffic on the Ship Canal at Barton.
Almost all of that is temperature-controlled, wet, or both — which is why a pallet chosen for a dry Midlands distribution shed is usually the wrong pallet for a Trafford Park food site.
These sites wash down, run condensation and move pallets between chill and ambient several times a shift. Timber takes that water on board, gains weight and eventually splinters — into product, or into someone’s hand.
Much of what leaves the estate goes to a supermarket RDC where pallets meet automation. One that has swollen or lost a bottom board is a rejected delivery, not a minor annoyance.
Pallets that return on the trunk run are worth owning outright. Pallets that stay with the customer should be a cheap one-trip export type. Most operations need both, priced separately.
Everything in a cold chain gets harder as the temperature drops, and pallets are no exception. Polymer does not crack the way wet timber does, but its impact resistance falls as it gets colder: the colder the pallet, the less it absorbs when a forklift tine catches a corner.
So the rule we give every cold-store buyer is the same: specify for the coldest point in the process, not the average. A pallet that lives at chill temperatures but spends a shift in a blast cell is a freezer pallet.
What we will not do is put a temperature rating on a product without knowing your process. Tell us the lowest temperature, the dwell time, whether it is racked and how it is cleaned, and we will tell you which products fit — and say so plainly if none of them do. See our hygienic and food-grade pallets and the sectors we supply.
Work through it stage by stage rather than hunting for one pallet that does everything. Most North West food sites settle on two or three specifications, which costs less than over-specifying every pallet on the yard.
| Stage in the process | What to specify | Why | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ambient production and warehousing | Heavy-duty rackable, 1200×1000 | Survives repeat forklift handling and holds its footprint in automation | Ask for the racking load, which is always the lowest of the three figures |
| Chilled storage and chilled dispatch | Closed-deck hygienic pallet | Wipes and drains; no absorbed moisture to freeze later or drip onto product | Allow drying time on the return to ambient — everything cold sweats |
| Blast freezing | Freezer spacers between layers, on a cold-specified pallet | Air gaps let cold air circulate, so the core reaches temperature faster and more evenly | Spacer height has to suit your carton size and the airflow in the cell |
| Frozen cold store and freezer racking | Pallet specified for the coldest point in the process | Impact resistance falls as temperature drops, so the freezer decides the spec | A pallet that is fine at chill may not be fine at freezer temperatures |
| Export by sea or air | Lightweight nestable export pallet | Falls outside the ISPM 15 timber treatment and marking rules | One-way export pallets are not rated for racking |
Straight answer first: we do not have a Manchester depot. The North West is a delivery area, served from our Coventry depot on Torrington Avenue, roughly a hundred miles down the M6.
One local point: Greater Manchester does not currently charge vehicles under a Clean Air Zone. The proposed scheme was paused and replaced with an investment-led plan, so there is no daily charge to build into a delivery cost as there is in London. Schemes change — confirm the current position before you plan a fleet around it.
Manchester is covered from our Coventry depot alongside the Midlands and the North. If you run sites on both sides of the Pennines, we can put them on one order.
No. Our depots are Coventry (CV4 9AP) and Wembley (HA9 0YJ), so Manchester is a delivery area served from Coventry. For stock orders that makes little practical difference, since next working day to the UK mainland covers Greater Manchester. It does mean collection is not realistic from Manchester, so we quote delivered.
Some products in the range are intended for low-temperature work and some are not, and the answer depends on your process rather than the pallet alone. Polymer impact resistance falls as temperature drops, so a pallet must be specified for the coldest point it will see. Tell us that temperature, the dwell time and whether it goes into freezer racking, and we will confirm what fits.
They sit between layers of cartons in a blast cell and hold an air gap open, so cold air circulates through the stack rather than around it. Freezing is faster and more even and the cycle is shorter. They wash and get reused, which is why continuous lines run them instead of cardboard or timber battens.
Not at present. The charging zone proposed for Greater Manchester was paused and replaced with an investment-led plan, so there is currently no daily charge of the kind London operates. Schemes do get revised, so check the current rules for your vehicle class before budgeting a long delivery contract.
Stock lines are typically available for next working day delivery to the UK mainland, dispatched from our Coventry (CV4 9AP) depot. Custom sizes and bespoke colours usually run to 2–4 weeks depending on specification. Give us the postcode and the quantity and we will confirm a date rather than a range.
No. We supply single pallets and full loads alike, and there is no maximum either. For smaller quantities it is worth asking about used and refurbished stock, which carries the same handling characteristics at lower cost.
Yes, from our Coventry (CV4 9AP) depot on most stock lines. Call ahead so the order is picked and waiting, and tell us your vehicle type so we can confirm access and loading.
Send us the load, the postcode and the lowest temperature the pallet will see, and we will specify it and price it.