Beecraft supplies plastic pallets, crates and returnable packaging across Bristol, Avonmouth and Severnside from its Coventry depot, down the M5. The range covers beverage crates, hygienic food-grade, heavy-duty and export pallets, plus pallet boxes. Stock lines reach South West addresses next working day; bespoke sizes take two to four weeks.
The Port of Bristol is two docks — Avonmouth on the north bank of the Avon and Royal Portbury on the south — and behind them sits the Avonmouth and Severnside Enterprise Area, one of the largest blocks of distribution land in the South West.
It is a working port estate rather than a business park. Vehicle imports, animal feed, grain, aggregates, fuel and containers all move through it, and a good deal of what is held there is held outside, in the open, beside an estuary with one of the biggest tidal ranges in the world. Wind, salt and driving rain are part of the operating environment out towards the M49 in a way they simply are not on an inland estate.
Wooden pallets left in an open yard take on water, gain weight, grow mould and rot from the bottom boards up. Plastic is hosed off rather than dried out. If stock lives outside all year, ask us about UV stabilisation.
Anything leaving through Portbury or Avonmouth on solid timber falls under ISPM 15 heat treatment and marking. Plastic sits outside those rules, so there is no treatment to arrange and no stamp to check.
A pallet that has swollen or lost a board can cost you a row in the container. Injection-moulded footprints hold dimension across thousands of cycles, which is why regular exporters standardise on them.
Bristol and Bath have been brewing towns for centuries and the wider region still runs a dense drinks cluster: breweries across the city, cider makers through north Somerset, and soft drinks and bottled water filling along the M5. Beverage handling is its own discipline and it has little in common with general palletised distribution.
Work it out by what is being moved and whether it comes back. Most producers here end up running two or three formats: something heavy for kegs, something that nests for crates, and something cheap and one-way for export.
| What you are moving | Format to look at | Why it works | Check before ordering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kegs and casks out to the on-trade | Heavy-duty rackable pallet, flat continuous deck | Point loads from the keg chimes land on a surface rather than a gap | Kegs roll — check deck grip and how the load is strapped |
| Bottles and cans round a filling line | Stacking crates or Euro containers, vented | Stack loaded, nest or stack empty, wash between fills | They must nest with the crates already in your pool |
| Empties coming back from the trade | Nesting crates or collapsible pallet boxes | The return leg is paid for in trailer volume, not tonnage | Measure the collapsed height against your trailer plan |
| Palletised multipacks to a retail RDC | 1200×1000 rackable, consistent footprint | Automated RDCs reject pallets that are out of tolerance | Confirm which footprint the retailer will accept |
| Export through Portbury or Avonmouth | Lightweight nestable export pallet | No ISPM 15 treatment or marking to arrange | Check the destination country’s own import requirements |
| Empties stored in an open yard | Plastic throughout, UV stabilised where needed | Does not absorb water, rot or grow mould in estuary damp | Tell us if it lives outdoors all year so we pick the grade |
Bristol is a delivery area for us, not a collection one. Orders leave the Coventry depot on Torrington Avenue and run down the M5, which puts Avonmouth, Severnside and Portbury on next working day for stock lines.
Worth knowing before you brief a driver: Bristol operates a charging Clean Air Zone over the central area, and it charges non-compliant cars as well as vans and lorries. Avonmouth, Severnside and Portbury sit well outside that boundary, so port-estate deliveries are unaffected — a city-centre address may not be. Check the vehicle on the government clean air zone service if you are unsure.
The South West is served from our Coventry depot alongside the Midlands. If you run a production site and a separate distribution yard, they can go on one delivery.
No. Coventry (CV4 9AP) and Wembley (HA9 0YJ) are our two depots, and the South West is served by delivery from Coventry. Stock lines are typically next working day, so it rarely affects planning, but it does mean we quote delivered rather than offering local collection.
Heavy-duty rackable pallets are the right family for keg work, but the specification depends on keg size, how many are on the pallet, whether it goes into racking and how it is handled. Kegs concentrate weight on their chimes, so the distribution matters as much as the total. Give us the keg size, the pattern and the destination and we will specify it rather than guess.
Not for plastic. The ISPM 15 debarking, heat treatment and marking rules apply to solid wood packaging; processed and non-solid materials fall outside them, so plastic pallets need no treatment or stamp. Exporters should still confirm the specific import requirements of the destination country.
Plastic does not absorb water, rot or grow mould the way timber does, which is the main reason estuary-side yards move away from wood. Long-term outdoor storage is mostly a question of UV exposure over years, so tell us if the stock lives outside all year and we will point you at the right grade.
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 what you are moving, the postcode and whether it comes back, and we will specify it and price it.