Everything You Need to Know About Loading Platforms

A loading platform, dock, bridge, deck, or bay is an elevated area in the delivery reception or shipping point of a warehouse or storage facility. The platform or deck often has a height similar to the height of the transport vehicle’s floor to allow easy offloading and loading. The loading platforms link manufacturing or warehousing to transportation and the storage and transportation functions. The different types of loading platforms mark the end and start of the flow of inventory.

Loading platforms better the effectiveness and efficiency of inventory handling during transportation or storage. The lack of a loading platform at an inventory loading or offloading site may increase the cost and risk of handling inventory. But the risk and cost of handling your goods can reduce markedly if you install an ideal loading platform. What loading platform options do you have when buying a loading platform in UAE? Here is a highlight of the top-five loading platforms that you can purchase for your warehouse or manufacturing plant.

The Flush Loading Platform or Dock

The flush loading platforms design is the most prevalent design. The platform provides a face that is flush with the exterior wall of your warehouse or industrial building. The platform is often equipped with a foundation bumper, which has an extension of a minimum of 4 inches beyond the exterior wall to prevent the possibility of the transportation trucks damaging the wall during parking. To prevent such an occurrence and the possibility of toppling your shipment you should grade your driveway to about 10%.

Enclosed Loading Platforms or Docks

The enclosed loading platforms may not be common. But they’re preferred in cases where you need to protect your products during loading or offloading. These loading platforms have a protective canopy that covers the transportation truck’s roof to prevent your products from getting exposed to rain or ice. The sheltered area also improves security and prevents product pilferage, while also allowing overhead lifting abilities. The platform’s canopy increases construction costs, and you have to create an effective ventilation system to take care of vehicle exhaust fumes.

Depressed Loading Platforms

The depressed loading platform has a characteristic sloping driveway, and it’s common in storage facilities where construction does away with dock-level floors and basements. This type of loading platform should have a properly graded driveway whose grading shouldn’t go beyond 10% to prevent the possibility of the vehicle hitting the exterior wall of the building as it parks because such an incident would topple the loaded goods. A grade that is less than 10% also ensures that the vehicle doesn’t experience problems in harsh weather when pulling away from the platform.

Open Loading Platform or Dock

The open loading platform is akin to the flush platform, but it lacks a canopy to protect against the vagaries of weather and possible pilferage during loading and offloading. The design is ideal when there is little to no pilferage, and a limited possibility of your products getting damaged by the vagaries of harsh weather. Such open platforms can get improved through the addition of a temporary canopy whenever the need arises. To get the best loading platform designs you should visit the  website.

The Saw Tooth Loading Platforms

The saw tooth loading platform line-up is often applicable in loading areas that have a small vehicle maneuvering space. But the incoming roads that feed the loading platform should get designed in a way that allows the vehicles to driveway in the direction of the loading area’s angle. The platform is designed to get the transport vehicles lined up along your driveway’s direction for minimal need of great angular maneuvers. But additional space is necessary for creating the saw tooth loading platform design.