PLASTPOL is the plastics and rubber processing fair at Targi Kielce, and its logistics is above all about heavy machinery: injection moulding machines, extruders, lines and moulds. Transport is planned around the weight and size of each unit, unloading around the available equipment, and delivery around the venue slot. Our Kielce base with a ramp, a lorry-mounted crane and forklifts up to 5 tonnes works as a buffer right by the fairground.
Heavy machinery needs a plan, not improvisation
With plastics-processing machines, the choice of vehicle and equipment is driven by the weight, the packed dimensions, the support points and the way the unit is secured. We collect this data before quoting: it decides whether the machine travels on a standard trailer, a tail-lift vehicle or a low loader, and what will unload it on site. We also agree who is responsible for positioning the machine on the stand: carry-in and positioning is a separate stage coordinated with the organiser and the stand builder.
The Kielce base: ramp, crane, forklifts up to 5 tonnes
Our cross-dock base operates in Kielce, about 4 km from Targi Kielce, a few minutes away, and is equipped for loads heavier than typical groupage: an unloading ramp, a lorry-mounted crane and forklifts with a capacity of up to 5 tonnes. A machine can therefore arrive in Kielce well in advance: from a Polish manufacturer, from an exhibitor in the CZ/SK/AT/HU region or from the United Kingdom, be unloaded safely and wait under a roof for its slot.
A buffer before the unloading slot
Build-up slots at large events are rigid, and a late vehicle with a heavy machine is hard to recover on site. We therefore recommend a simple pattern: the long-haul leg to our base a few days before build-up, and a short final delivery from Kielce to the venue exactly in the assigned window. We always confirm build-up and breakdown dates with the fair organiser.
Exhibitors from the United Kingdom at PLASTPOL
A British machinery manufacturer exhibiting in Kielce crosses the EU customs border. Machines returning to the UK after the fair are best entered on an ATA carnet: temporary admission without duty and VAT, described in ATA carnet, what it is. The whole process from the perspective of a UK company, including consolidation at our Milton Keynes warehouse, is covered in UK exhibitor at Kielce fairs.
After the fair: dismantling and return
Once the event closes we collect the machine from the stand in the breakdown window, and if the return transport comes later, we store it at the Kielce base. We organise the return to any place in Poland, to the region or to the United Kingdom, with customs handled both ways.
The most common mistake: confusing gate time with unloading time
Exhibitors usually assume that if the vehicle has a slot at a given hour, the machine will stand on the stand at that hour. It does not work that way and nobody honest will promise it. What we can confirm is the hour the vehicle is presented at the venue gate within the assigned window. What happens next depends on the queue at the ramp, on the availability of the organiser's forklifts and cranes, and on whether the stand build is far enough along for the machine to have somewhere to go. With heavy equipment that gap is measured in hours, which is why we build the build-up plan with slack rather than to the minute.
What to prepare before loading a machine
- The machine datasheet: actual weight once packed, crate or frame dimensions, height of the centre of gravity.
- Lifting and lashing points indicated by the manufacturer, together with the prohibitions: what must not be gripped.
- Whether the machine has to travel upright and whether it carries transport locks to be removed on site.
- The confirmed build-up window and the name of the person who will receive the machine at the stand.
- For an exhibitor from outside the EU: the temporary admission paperwork closed before loading, not at the border.
See what else we do for exhibitors in the exhibition logistics hub and check our warehouses. Planning a machine for PLASTPOL? Write to us: send the weight, dimensions and date, and we will propose the vehicle, the unloading equipment and a delivery plan in the slot.
