How much does a higher-capacity dockboard cost?

Almost nothing. Comparing the same deck size, a 1520 x 910 mm dockboard is 1,677.60 pounds at 2,730 kg and 1,842.00 pounds at 6,360 kg, so 164.40 pounds buys 133% more capacity, and two of the four steps in that ladder cost nothing at all. On 1830 mm-wide decks, moving from 4,550 kg to 6,360 kg costs nothing on both the 910 mm and 1220 mm lengths. Price is set by deck size, not capacity, so choose the deck for the job and then take the strongest grade of that deck.

What height difference can a dockplate bridge?

Each plate publishes two figures and the smaller one governs. The maximum recommended height difference is consistently about 70% of the maximum possible figure: 76 mm possible against 50 mm recommended, 178 against 125, 280 against 200. Measure the real difference between your dock and your worst-case vehicle bed and choose a plate whose recommended figure covers it. The bend point sits 230 mm in from the end of the plate, which is how the design meets BS EN 1398:2009 and its minimum 100 mm engagement onto the vehicle bed.

Why does a longer dockplate carry less weight?

Because the unsupported span does the work. On a fixed 1220 mm width the capacities fall as length rises: 610 mm long carries 2,040 kg, 915 mm carries 1,360 kg, 1,220 mm carries 1,020 kg and 1,830 mm carries only 680 kg. The longest standard plate carries a third of what the shortest one does. If you need both a long span and a real capacity, that is what the heavy-duty H grade or a dockboard is for.

Do dock bumpers come with fixings?

No. Every bumper has counterbored fixing holes, so the bolt head sits below the impact face, but the anchors are ordered separately. Rubber and nylon bumpers take M16 concrete fixings, 180 mm as standard or 220 mm where rubber packers are fitted, plus a 2.5 inch OD zinc-plated washer at every hole. D-section bumpers take M12 x 135 mm fixings. For heavy traffic a steel fixing strip drops into the hollow centre of a D-section bumper and gives a continuous fixing rather than point loads.

Are nylon dock bumpers worth the extra cost?

Only on a high-frequency dock. At the same 254 x 457 x 50 mm size, rubber is 53.04 pounds and yellow nylon is 301.20 pounds, which is 5.7 times the price; at 254 x 762 x 50 mm the ratio is 5.9 times. Nylon is a modified cast nylon with high resistance to wear and abrasion and greater impact strength, so it earns that premium where rubber is being chewed through and the replacement labour costs more than the part. It does not earn it on a bay taking two deliveries a week.

What size trailer safety support do I need?

The capacity is rarely the constraint. Ours is rated at 36,500 kg, which covers essentially any trailer, but its height range is 990 to 1,295 mm. A fifth-wheel plate sitting outside that 305 mm window will not be supported at all, so measure the coupling height of the trailers that actually visit your bay before ordering. The optional safety sign clips to a standard air hose fitting and is what stops a driver pulling away with the support still under the trailer.

Loading Bay Equipment | Dockboards, Bumpers & Chocks UK

Q: Do I need a dockplate or a dockboard?

It is a traffic question, not a weight question. Dockplates are for pallet trucks, sack trucks, roll cages and pedestrians. Dockboards are for fork lift trucks and carry steel safety side curbs, painted red, which stop a forklift wheel running off the edge. If a forklift will cross it, specify a dockboard whatever the capacity arithmetic says. The price gap is smaller than most buyers expect: a 2,270 kg heavy-duty dockplate is 1,801.20 pounds and a 2,730 kg dockboard with side curbs is 1,921.20 pounds.

Q: Is an aluminium container ramp better than a steel one?

Not on capacity or value. The lightweight aluminium ground level ramp is 1,640.40 pounds and rated 810 kg; the steel Ramp Only is 1,016.40 pounds and rated 6,000 kg. That is 61% more money for 87% less capacity. What the aluminium buys is weight, at 52 kg against 235 kg, so it can be moved by a pallet truck rather than a forklift. Buy aluminium for handling, never for value.

The loading bay is where a warehouse meets the road, and it is the part of the site that hurts people. Reversing HGVs, a dock edge with a gap under it, an unlit trailer, a semi-trailer with no cab under the fifth wheel, and a forklift crossing all of it. Everything in this range removes one specific hazard at that interface. All sixteen products are made by Thorworld Industries, most of them designed and manufactured in the UK at their Chesterfield factory.

Two things are worth saying before the specifications. First, this is commercial equipment: the range runs from a £3.00 washer to a £3,446.40 aluminium dockboard, and the working products start in the hundreds. If you are looking for a pair of £12 chocks for a caravan, this is the wrong page — see the honest handoffs near the bottom. Second, and more usefully, on this range the price is set almost entirely by physical size, not by rated capacity. That single fact changes how you should specify a dockboard, and almost nobody selling them says it out loud.

The finding that should change your dockboard order: capacity is nearly free

Our aluminium dockboards come in 36 orderable configurations, five capacity grades (2,730 · 3,640 · 4,550 · 5,450 · 6,360 kg) across eight deck sizes, from £1,677.60 to £3,446.40. Comparing like deck size with like deck size, the price of moving up the capacity ladder is close to nothing:

1520 × 910 mm: 2,730 kg £1,677.60 · 3,640 kg £1,677.60 · 4,550 kg £1,842.00 · 5,450 kg £1,842.00 · 6,360 kg £1,842.00. +£164.40 buys +133% capacity, and two of the four steps cost nothing at all.
1520 × 1220 mm: £1,952.40 → £2,214.00. +£261.60 (+13.4%) for +133% capacity.
1520 × 1520 mm: £2,362.80 → £2,619.60. +£256.80 (+10.9%).
1830 mm-wide decks: 4,550 kg to 6,360 kg costs £0.00 on both the 910 mm and 1220 mm lengths, and £34.80 on the 1520 mm.

The practical conclusion is blunt. There is no financial reason to specify a dockboard at the capacity you need today rather than the capacity you might need in five years. The variable that costs money is the deck — going from a 910 mm to an 1830 mm length on a 1520 mm-wide board costs £884.40, roughly five times what the entire capacity range costs. Get the deck size right, then take the top capacity grade for the deck you have chosen.

And one price in the range inverts. At 1370 × 1220 mm, the 2,730 kg board (6-5448) is £1,921.20 while the 3,640 kg board (8-5448) at the identical deck size is £1,879.20 — the lower-capacity unit costs £42.00 more. There is no configuration in which the 6-5448 is the right buy. We publish this rather than let someone find it after ordering.

Dockplates: the heavy-duty version costs 14–19% and carries 73–80% more

Our aluminium dockplates run to 24 configurations, £828.00 to £2,088.00. Every deck size is offered in a standard grade and an "H" heavy-duty grade, and the uplift is remarkably consistent:

915 × 1220 mm — 770 kg £1,060.80 vs 1,360 kg £1,234.80 (+16.4% price, +76.6% capacity)
1220 × 915 mm — 1,360 kg £1,059.60 vs 2,450 kg £1,232.40 (+16.3%, +80.1%)
1220 × 1220 mm — 1,020 kg £1,292.40 vs 1,810 kg £1,518.00 (+17.5%, +77.5%)
1220 × 1525 mm — 810 kg £1,525.20 vs 1,450 kg £1,803.60 (+18.3%, +79.0%)
1525 × 915 mm — 1,700 kg £1,264.80 vs 3,040 kg £1,444.80 (+14.2%, +78.8%)

Across all nine pairs the pattern holds: roughly a sixth more money buys roughly three-quarters more capacity. Combined with the dockboard finding above, the rule for this whole category is the same — choose the size for the job, then buy the strongest version of that size.

Capacity falls as the plate gets longer, which is the opposite of the intuition

A longer plate spans a bigger height difference, so it feels like the bigger, stronger option. It is not. On a fixed 1220 mm width the capacities run: 610 mm long = 2,040 kg · 760 mm = 1,630 kg · 915 mm = 1,360 kg · 1,070 mm = 1,180 kg · 1,220 mm = 1,020 kg · 1,525 mm = 810 kg · 1,830 mm = 680 kg. The longest standard plate carries a third of what the shortest one does, because the unsupported span is doing the work. If you need both a long span and a real capacity, that is what the H grade — or a dockboard — is for.

Maximum possible and maximum recommended height difference are different numbers, and the small one governs

Every plate and board publishes two height-difference figures, and the recommended figure is consistently about 70% of the possible figure: 76 mm possible / 50 mm recommended · 101 / 70 · 127 / 90 · 152 / 110 · 178 / 125 · 228 / 160 · 280 / 200. Specifying against "maximum possible" is the commonest way a bay ends up with a plate that is legal on paper and unpleasant to run a pallet truck over. Measure the real height difference between your dock and your worst-case vehicle bed, then choose a plate whose recommended figure covers it.

Two related points from the product data. The bend point sits 230 mm in from the end of the plate, which is how the design satisfies BS EN 1398:2009 and its call for a minimum of 100 mm engagement onto the vehicle bed. And when the vehicle sits below dock height, the majority of the plate must be positioned inside the vehicle — not resting mostly on the dock.

Dockplate or dockboard? It is a traffic question, not a weight question

Both are stand-alone products requiring no installation, both are high-tensile aluminium with a treadplate anti-slip finish, both are crowned and bevelled and come with one pair of locking legs. The difference is what crosses them. Dockplates are for pallet trucks, sack trucks, roll cages and pedestrians. Dockboards are for fork lift trucks — and they carry steel safety side curbs, painted red, which is the feature that stops a forklift wheel running off the edge. If a forklift will cross it, it is a dockboard, whatever the arithmetic says.

The crossover is closer than most buyers expect. A heavy-duty dockplate at 1525 × 1220 mm and 2,270 kg is £1,801.20; a 2,730 kg dockboard with side curbs at 1370 × 1220 mm is £1,921.20 — about £120 apart. If a forklift is anywhere near the decision, the side curbs are worth £120.

Handling: the 40 kg rule and the accessories that exist because of it

These are heavy items. Dockplates run from 22 kg to 84 kg and dockboards from 52 kg to 160 kg. Thorworld's own instruction is that plates under 40 kg should be handled by two people minimum, and beyond that lifting facilities should be used. That is what the dockplate and dockboard accessories are for: fork truck lifting handles (FTH-1, £222.00), recommended for all dockboards; side curbs with castors (SCC-2, £372.00), which replace the standard loop handles so a plate can be tipped on its side and wheeled; and an additional set of fixed locking legs (FSL-1, £96.00) for bays where the gap between vehicle and dock exceeds 150 mm. Budget for the handling, not just the plate.

Container ramps: the aluminium option is the expensive one

The ground level container access ramps get a forklift from the yard into a container standing on the ground. The steel models are one-piece, moved by fork pockets, and come in two shapes: Ramp Only (2200 × 1200 mm, moved from the front, a steady incline to the container floor) at £1,016.40 / £1,243.20 / £1,500.00 for 6,000 / 10,000 / 12,000 kg; and Ramp and Platform (2200 × 3000 mm, moved from the side, giving a level working platform of typically 1850 mm so goods packed tight to the container roof can be taken out horizontally) at £2,629.20 / £2,907.60 for 6,000 / 10,000 kg. The Ramp and Platform design requires fork-truck side-shift to position — check you have it.

The aluminium option is not the budget option. The lightweight aluminium ramp is £1,640.40 at 810 kg, against a steel Ramp Only at £1,016.40 and 6,000 kg. That is 61% more money for 87% less capacity. What the aluminium buys is weight — 52 kg against 235 kg — so it can be moved by a pallet truck rather than needing a forklift, and it can be lifted by hand at a push. Buy it for handling, never for value or capacity.

Two conditions the data is explicit about and which decide whether these work at all: the ramps are designed for standard shipping containers with a 150 mm floor height (temperature-controlled and similar containers with raised or set-back floors need a conversation first), and a smooth, flat, sturdy floor area is required in front of the container. A rutted yard is not a site for a ground-level ramp.

One caution on price. The anti-slip aggregate coatings are sold as options within the same product — £366.00 for the Ramp Only coating and £882.00 for the Ramp and Platform coating — so the lowest figure attached to the ramp listing is a coating, not a ramp. The cheapest ramp you can actually stand on is £1,016.40. If your bay is a raised dock rather than ground level, the ramp you want is in container access ramps instead.

Wheel chocks: four materials, and one thing worth knowing about the market

Our wheel chocks are HGV chocks, and the prices reflect that: plastic £43.68 (200 × 440 × 230 mm, 2 kg) · steel £48.72 (270 × 200 × 230 mm, 4.5 kg) · moulded rubber £51.96 (190 × 270 × 190 mm, 6 kg) · cast aluminium £119.52 (400 × 180 × 180 mm, 3.25 kg).

Worth being honest about the search results you have probably just come from. We checked the first thirty results for "wheel chocks" in the UK: they are dominated by Halfords, Amazon, eBay, B&Q, Screwfix, Machine Mart and caravan dealers, and the related searches are "wheel chocks car", "for campervan" and "motorcycle". Almost every shopping listing is a £5–£40 consumer chock for a car, caravan or trailer. That is a different product class from a chock intended to hold a laden HGV at a dock. If you are chocking a caravan, buy the £12 one; if you are chocking a 44-tonne artic while a forklift drives into it, the material and the grip face matter.

Two specification details from the data. The rubber chocks are the ones with a safety grip face for maximum adhesion between wheel and chock, and built-in lifting handles. And the 5 m anti-theft retaining chain (£63.36) fits the rubber, cast aluminium and steel chocks (TWC-1, TWC-3, TWC-10) — it is not listed as fitting the plastic TWC-12. The cheapest chock in the range is the one you cannot chain to the bay, which matters, because a chock that has wandered off is a chock that is not under a wheel.

Dock bumpers: rubber, nylon, or a continuous D-section run

Dock bumpers (dock buffers) absorb the impact of a reversing trailer before it reaches the dock face, and align the vehicle while it is at it. Three families:

Rubber — £15.36 to £126.00. Type 2 rectangular bumpers with angled edges (254 × 457 or 254 × 762 mm, 50/100/150 mm thick) and Type 3 narrow-width bumpers (115 mm wide, 75 mm thick, 130–780 mm long) that suit mini dock levellers.
Nylon — £118.80 to £584.40. Modified cast nylon, high resistance to wear and abrasion, greater impact strength and toughness, in yellow. The 254 × 457 × 50 mm and 254 × 762 × 50 mm sizes are also offered with a 50 mm rubber backing spacer, which pushes the bumper further off the dock face and adds cushioning.
Extruded D-section — £105.36 to £358.80. A 100 × 100 mm rubber profile in 1 m, 2 m and 3 m lengths (specials on request), assembled end to end for a continuous run rather than discrete blocks. 10 kg per metre.

The nylon premium is large and should be a deliberate decision. At the same 254 × 457 × 50 mm size, rubber is £53.04 and yellow nylon is £301.20 — 5.7×. At 254 × 762 × 50 mm it is £82.20 against £484.80 — 5.9×. Nylon earns that on a high-frequency dock where rubber is being chewed through and the replacement labour costs more than the part; it does not earn it on a bay taking two deliveries a week.

The bit that gets forgotten: bumpers do not come with fixings

Every bumper in the range has counterbored fixing holes — the counterbore is there to keep the bolt head below the impact face so the fixing is not destroyed on the first hit — but the fixings themselves are sold separately, in dock bumper fixings and fixing strips. Get the right ones: M16 concrete fixings for rubber and nylon bumpers (180 mm TWB-F4 at £5.28, or 220 mm TWB-F5 at £9.36 where rubber packers are fitted), M12 × 135 mm for D-section (£3.96), and a 2.5" OD zinc-plated washer (£3.00) at every fixing hole on standard rubber and nylon bumpers. For heavy traffic, the steel fixing strip (1 m £26.88 · 2 m £52.68 · 3 m £78.24) drops into the hollow centre of a D-section bumper and gives a continuous fixing rather than point loads. A £300 bumper held on with the wrong anchor is a £300 bumper on the floor. All of these are listed in loading bay accessories.

Trailer safety supports: the height range is the specification that decides it

When the cab is uncoupled and a forklift drives to the far end of a semi-trailer, the load can tip it forwards off its landing legs. A trailer safety support (trailer prop stand) goes under the fifth wheel plate and is wound up on a ratchet. Ours is rated at 36,500 kg at £1,146.00, weighs 60 kg, and has wheels and a handle so one person can position it.

The number to check is not the capacity — it is the height range: 990 to 1,295 mm. 36,500 kg will cover essentially any trailer you can put in front of it. A fifth-wheel plate sitting outside that 305 mm window will not be supported at all. Measure the coupling height of the trailers that actually visit your bay before ordering.

The optional safety sign is £69.12 — 6% of the cost of the support — and clips to a standard air hose fitting to warn the driver to remove the support before pulling away. It is the cheapest part of the system and the one that prevents the failure mode where the support is still under the trailer when the cab leaves.

Dock lights: reach matters more than lumens

The Super Deluxe LED dock light (£420.00) lights the inside of a trailer or container so an operative can see the load. 30 W LED, 3,300 lumen output, IP65 so it is fine outdoors, 100–240 V supply, PC lens with a metal guard, an integrated switch, and it pivots at three points and tilts up and down so the beam can be pointed at the far end of a trailer rather than at the dock leveller.

The specification that decides whether it works is the arm: 1,100 mm fully extended. That is how far the light can reach past the door frame; beyond that you are lighting the doorway, not the trailer. When it is not in use it swings clear to one side of the opening. See dock lights for the current range.

What we do not sell, said plainly

Three things people arrive on this page looking for that are not in this range:

Dock levellers. A permanently installed, hinged or hydraulic leveller built into the dock is a different product with a different installation, and we do not supply them. A dockplate or dockboard is a portable, stand-alone alternative that needs no installation and causes no disruption to the dock — which is often the better answer for a bay that cannot be taken out of service — but it is not a leveller and we will not describe it as one.
Consumer wheel chocks. Car, caravan, motorhome and motorcycle chocks are a high-street purchase and cost a tenth of ours. Ours are for commercial vehicles at a dock.
General-purpose loading ramps. Our ramps are ground-level container ramps for forklifts entering shipping containers. If you need a mobile yard ramp, a van ramp or a plant-loading ramp, that is a different specification.

Equally, the product data for these sixteen items does not state a warranty period, a lead time or a stock status anywhere. We would rather tell you that than publish a figure we cannot stand behind — ask us in writing, and ask any competitor quoting a guarantee which document the number comes from.

Before you order

Measure the worst case, not the average. The dock-to-bed height difference varies with vehicle type, suspension and load. Specify against the largest difference your bay actually sees, using the recommended figure.
Confirm who unloads the delivery. A 160 kg dockboard and a 775 kg steel ramp and platform do not come off a lorry by hand.
Fixings are a separate line. Bumper anchors and washers are not supplied with the bumper, and the right anchor for screeded concrete is not the right anchor for anything else.
Buy capacity while it is cheap. On dockboards it is close to free; on dockplates it is about a sixth more.

If you are specifying a bay from scratch, or fixing one after a near miss, read our loading bay safety guide and the guide to loading without a dock. For what crosses the plate once it is down, see pallet trucks, powered pallet trucks, pallet stackers, roll containers and platform trolleys and trucks; for the rest of the bay, safety barriers, access platforms and steps and storage cages. Or send us your vehicle types and dock heights and we will spec it against the real capacity tables.