Our forklift moving service in Kingston and nearby areas does two jobs for industrial clients. The main one is forklift transport: a lift truck picked up at one address, chained to a trailer and delivered to the next plant, warehouse, dealer or auction buyer. The second is lifting with a forklift, for machines that arrive at a site with no loading dock.
It is built for manufacturers, distribution yards and equipment buyers along the Highway 401 corridor, from plants near the 401 interchanges to sites in Loyalist Township and Gananoque. Ask us about any address in Kingston, ON or the surrounding area.
- Who it is for: plants, warehouses, equipment dealers and auction buyers. No household or office moves.
- One crew, start to finish: loading, tie-down, the haul, unloading and parking the unit.
- Response time: quotes go out within 2–4 business hours.
- Minimum job: 3,500 CAD. Most industrial jobs cost more, and your written quote shows the full price.
- Coverage: Kingston, Loyalist, Greater Napanee, South Frontenac and Gananoque, with longer 401 runs priced per trip.
Need a rough figure before you call? Our Heavy Lifting & Moving Calculator shows an instant price range.
or give a call +1-647-846-5179
Forklift Transport in Kingston: Plant, Dealer and Auction Runs
Weight is the first question on any lift truck move. A counterbalance forklift carries a cast-iron counterweight behind the driver, so a truck that takes up half a trailer deck can still be one of the densest loads that trailer carries. Height is the second question: with the mast upright, some trucks sit above the legal limit once they are on a deck. Our dedicated forklift moving service plans every Kingston move around those two numbers.
Seven Steps on Every Forklift Move
- Data plate first: a photo of the plate gives us the make, model, rated capacity and truck weight, plus the power source: battery, propane or diesel.
- Does it run? Tell us if the unit doesn’t run; we confirm the method before quoting.
- Trailer pick: a tilt-deck for most warehouse trucks, a lowbed float when the weight or the lowered-mast height calls for one.
- Ready to travel: forks flat on the deck, parking brake on, battery plug pulled or propane tank closed, and clamps, rotators or other attachments secured.
- Tied down to the rules: National Safety Code Standard 10 calls for at least four tie-downs, front and rear, on wheeled equipment over 4,500 kg, with every accessory lowered and secured.
- Route check: bridges, low wires and rail crossings along the way, the LaSalle Causeway calendar and the hours set by any permit.
- Hand-over: the unit comes off at a dock or at ground level and is parked where your team points.
Forklifts and Lift Trucks We Transport
- Electric counterbalance forklifts from warehouses and food plants
- Propane and diesel yard trucks working around steel, lumber and concrete products
- Reach trucks, order pickers and walkie stackers from racked distribution space
- Rough-terrain forklifts from marinas, farms and building-supply yards
- Used units sold at auction, traded in at a dealer or left behind when a plant closes
Our loads range from pallet trucks to heavy-capacity forklifts, and each one gets the same secure loading and transportation routine.
When the Forklift Won’t Start or Drive
A flat battery, a failed drive motor or a brake that stays locked turns a simple drive-on into a different job, and a unit leaking hydraulic oil may need a repair before it travels. Tell us if the unit doesn’t run; we confirm the method before quoting.
Forklift Movers for Machinery Deliveries in Kingston
Some deliveries need the forklift more than the truck. When a new machine reaches a Kingston site with no dock and no overhead crane, our forklift movers bring a forklift sized for its weight, take it off the trailer at ground level and set it down on the marks on your floor.
Unloading and Loading Without a Dock
For outbound loads the order flips: we pick the machine or crated spare up from your floor, set it on the deck and secure it for the road. Your licensed electricians handle disconnection and reconnection; we handle the lifting, the carrying and the tie-down.
Heavier Machines: Skates, Gantries and Millwrights
Loads beyond a forklift’s reach travel on machinery skates, a hydraulic gantry or jacks and rollers, and millwrights level and install them. That work belongs to our machinery movers in Kingston. A lift inside your plant with no haul is a job for our industrial rigging services in Kingston, and machining centres go to our machinery movers in Kingston. When a whole plant is moving, forklifts included, see our machinery movers in Kingston.
Comparing heavy machinery movers or machinery moving companies for heavy equipment hauling? Kingston sites get one crew and one quote from us, whichever service page they start on.
or give a call +1-647-846-5179
Permits, Bridges and Border Crossings for Forklift Transport in Kingston
A typical lift truck rides as an ordinary legal load. The rules below come into play when a large yard forklift, or a machine travelling with it, is over the legal width, height or weight.
City of Kingston Oversize/Overweight Trip Permit
On City streets, a load over the Highway Traffic Act limits needs an Oversize/Overweight Load Trip Permit, issued for specific days on a specific route unless an annual permit already covers it. Applications go through Kingston Permit Central, and annual permit holders still have to respect seasonal, fixed and temporary load restrictions. Details are on the City’s right-of-way permits page.
Lennox and Addington Roads to Loyalist and Napanee
West of the city, County roads in Loyalist Township and Greater Napanee follow Lennox and Addington rules. A load wider than 2.60 m, taller than 4.15 m or longer than 23.00 m needs a County excess load permit, large oversize moves are usually limited to 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and a load 4.00 to 4.59 m wide travels with one private escort.
Crossing the Cataraqui River When the LaSalle Causeway Closes
The LaSalle Causeway carries Highway 2 between downtown and the east end. On the marine-opening days scheduled by Public Services and Procurement Canada, the modular bridge is lifted out and the causeway closes to all traffic from 6 a.m. until about 8 p.m., or 10 p.m. in summer. East-end jobs on those days cross on the Waaban Crossing, the City bridge from John Counter Boulevard to Gore Road, or by Highway 401, whichever suits the load.
Highway 401 and Highway 15
Both are provincial highways, so a permitted load on either also requires an MTO oversize/overweight permit. The Ministry’s current turnaround for a single-trip permit is 5 business days.
Forklifts Bought in the US
Highway 401 meets US Interstate 81 at the Lansdowne port of entry, at the foot of the Thousand Islands Bridge on Hill Island, a crossing that handles commercial trucks. A unit bought at an auction in New York State can come in that way, quoted trip by trip. Your customs broker clears it; we plan the pickup around the release.
What We Bring
- Tilt-deck and lowbed trailers, chosen by weight and height
- Chains, binders and wheel chocks on every load
- A heavy-capacity lift truck when a machine has to come off a trailer
- Machinery skates and a hydraulic gantry, used where a forklift should not carry the load
Forklifts and specialized equipment are matched to each job before the truck leaves.
or give a call +1-647-846-5179
What Forklift Transport Costs in Kingston
Each forklift move is priced on its own. These are the details that move the number:
- How heavy and how tall the loaded unit is, which sets the trailer and whether a permit applies
- Distance, from a cross-town run to a haul to Napanee, Brockville or Ottawa
- Access at both ends, such as a dock, a gravel lot, a tight laneway or a unit parked indoors
- Running condition, because a unit that drives itself onto the deck takes less time
- Permits, escorts and crossings, including detours on LaSalle Causeway closure days
- Season, since snow and ice on a yard add time to loading in winter
Moving more than one lift truck? List them all in one request so we can see what fits on a single trip. For a quick range, try the Heavy Lifting & Moving Calculator.
Service Area: Kingston, Lennox and Addington and the Thousand Islands
Kingston’s City-owned business parks have easy access to Highway 401, and the City is preparing the Clogg’s Road area, south of the 401 and west of Gardiners Road, as another business park. Its east parcel, 2800 Clogg’s Road, is already serviced and for sale.
Manufacturing keeps lift trucks busy here. Invest Kingston counts over 100 manufacturing firms in the city, with more than 5,000 workers between them, in specialties from metal fabrication and chemical products to food processing and rail transportation.
Outside the city we cover Loyalist Township (Amherstview, Odessa and Bath), Greater Napanee, Deseronto, South Frontenac (Sydenham, Harrowsmith and Verona) and Gananoque. The service-area map below marks about 50 km around Kingston.
Kingston-Area Places We Serve
| City | Province | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Kingston | Ontario | Canada |
| Deseronto | Ontario | Canada |
| Gananoque | Ontario | Canada |
| Napanee | Ontario | Canada |
Longer trips, such as a run to a GTA dealer or to a buyer across the US border, get their own trip price. Closer to Ottawa or Durham Region? See our forklift moving service in Ottawa or our forklift moving service in Oshawa, and for machinery anywhere in the province, our machinery movers across Ontario.
or give a call +1-647-846-5179
Why Kingston Businesses Call Us for Forklift Moves
- Industrial jobs only, from a single lift truck to a whole fleet.
- Rules checked up front: City, County and MTO permits and the causeway calendar are settled before a date is booked.
- Forklift work and heavy equipment moving services under one plan: haul, unloading, skates, gantry and installation.
- Winter planning: loading areas, ramps and decks are checked for snow and ice before the lift.
- Replies within 2–4 business hours.
- Insured: liability and workers’ compensation insurance (WSIB in Ontario), with a certificate of insurance on request.
Good fit: forklifts moved between Kingston sites or out to Napanee and Gananoque, auction and dealer pickups, fleet moves to a new building, units returned at the end of a lease, and machines unloaded or repositioned with a forklift.
Not a fit: forklift repair, forklift servicing or a mobile forklift service; rentals, sales and parts; operator training and forklift jobs; freight unloading and lumper work; and household or office moves, which household movers handle.
Six Details We Need to Quote a Forklift Move
Contact us today for a free, no-obligation estimate. Add these to your quote request and we can price the move without guesswork:
- A photo of the data plate showing make, model and truck weight
- Whether it runs, and what is wrong if it does not
- Pickup and drop-off addresses, with what each site offers: a dock, level ground, gravel or a snowy yard
- Mast-down height and overall width, attachments included
- Dates that work, plus any hard deadline
- How many units are moving
We accept payments in C$ (CAD).
or give a call +1-647-846-5179
Other Services in Kingston
See all our services in Kingston, Ontario or pick a related service below.
You also might be interested in the following services within the area:
- Heavy Equipment & Machinery Movers in Kingston, ON
- Heavy & Industrial Rigging Services in Kingston, ON
Location of our sales office:
556 O’Connor Dr, Kingston, ON K7P 1N3, Canada
Kingston Forklift Moving FAQ
Around Kingston, it covers two kinds of work. Most often a lift truck has to go somewhere: from one plant to another, to a dealer, or home from an auction, so we load it, chain it to a trailer, drive it there and unload it. The other kind is lifting with a forklift, such as taking a new machine off a delivery truck at a site without a dock.
Lift trucks of the usual kinds, from pallet trucks and walkie stackers to reach trucks and big yard units, along with machines a forklift can lift safely: lathes, mills, compressors, small presses and crated equipment. When forks are the wrong tool, because of weight or shape, the machine goes on skates or a gantry with our machinery movers in Kingston.
It depends on the fault, so describe it when you ask for a quote: a flat battery, a drive motor that has failed, brakes that stay locked or a hydraulic leak. A unit that will not move on its own needs a different loading plan, and some faults mean it should be repaired before it travels. Tell us if the unit doesn’t run; we confirm the method before quoting.
Only when the load is over the Highway Traffic Act limits. Then the City of Kingston issues an Oversize/Overweight Load Trip Permit for specific days on a specific route, applied for through Kingston Permit Central, unless an annual permit already covers the load. Seasonal, fixed and temporary load restrictions still apply to annual permit holders.
Yes. The causeway closes to all traffic on the marine-opening days scheduled by Public Services and Procurement Canada, from 6 a.m. until about 8 p.m., or 10 p.m. in summer. On those days we cross the Cataraqui River on the Waaban Crossing, between John Counter Boulevard and Gore Road, or on Highway 401, and we check the schedule before booking.
County roads toward Napanee, Odessa and Amherstview need a Lennox and Addington excess load permit for any load over 2.60 m wide, 4.15 m high or 23.00 m long. Large oversize moves are usually confined to 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and a load 4.00 to 4.59 m wide needs one private escort.
Yes, quoted trip by trip. Trucks can cross at the Lansdowne port of entry, at the foot of the Thousand Islands Bridge on Hill Island, which links Interstate 81 with Highway 401 and handles commercial traffic. Your customs broker clears the unit; we plan the pickup around the release and bring the forklift to your Kingston site or to its next owner.
Every forklift move gets its own quote. The trailer follows from the weight and the mast-down height, and then the distance, access at each end, running condition, any permits or escorts, causeway closure days and winter yard conditions set the figure. Two or more units booked together may travel on one truck. For a quick range, try our Heavy Lifting and Moving Calculator.
No. We don’t repair, service, rent or sell forklifts, and we don’t run operator training, so a dealer or a mobile forklift service will serve you better there. Our part is moving the trucks themselves: to a repair shop and back, between sites, or from an auction to their new owner.
No. We don’t move homes, apartments, offices or furniture, and we don’t supply loaders and unloaders for a household move. For those, Kingston has residential and commercial moving companies. Our work is industrial: forklifts, production machines and other plant equipment for factories, warehouses, dealers and equipment buyers in and around Kingston.
