Reach Trucks: Trading Turning Circle for Height
A reach truck extends its forks out to the load instead of driving the whole chassis into the rack, which lets it work in a narrower aisle than a counterbalance forklift and reach considerably higher. The cost is a truck that is less useful outside the warehouse.
Last updated 2026-08-23
What a reach truck actually does
Instead of turning the whole truck to face the rack, a reach truck extends a pantograph or scissor mechanism out from a mostly stationary chassis to place and retrieve the pallet. The mast also typically reaches higher than a comparable counterbalance truck, because the truck itself does not need the same stability envelope for a wide, low centre of gravity.
That combination — narrower aisle, taller reach — is the whole case for a reach truck, and it is why they show up so often once a warehouse moves past low-density selective racking laid out for counterbalance trucks and starts building upward instead of outward.
The aisle it needs, and what that buys you
Because a reach truck does not need to turn fully into the aisle, its working aisle is narrower than a counterbalance truck of similar capacity, though still wider than a genuine narrow-aisle system. As always, the manufacturer publishes a minimum aisle width for the specific truck and mast combination — treat that as the number to plan against, not an estimate.
Narrower aisles mean more racking runs fit into the same floor area, which is the whole point of cubic utilisation and aisle width planning once a business is trying to squeeze more pallet positions out of an existing footprint.
What you give up for it
Reach trucks are built for indoor, flat-floor work. They are almost always electric, which suits continuous indoor operation but rules out the fast refuelling of an LPG or diesel yard truck — see electric versus LPG versus diesel forklifts for that comparison.
They also generally cannot handle rough yard surfaces or heavy dock ramp work the way a counterbalance truck can, so most sites running reach trucks still keep at least one counterbalance truck for dock and yard duties.
Reach trucks against very narrow aisle
A reach truck is a step towards density, not the end of it. Very narrow aisle trucks go further again, running in a guided aisle narrower than any reach truck can operate in, at the cost of the truck being locked to that aisle. Some reach-truck configurations can also handle double-deep racking, storing two pallets deep instead of one, which is worth comparing against a genuine VNA system before committing to either. The nearer comparison most sites actually need first is reach truck versus counterbalance, before density questions further up the chain come into it at all.
If picking individual cartons rather than moving pallets is the actual job at height, an order picker is the correct truck, not a reach truck pressed into a role it was not built for.
Licensing
Operating a reach truck in Australia requires the same forklift high-risk work licence as any other forklift class — see the forklift licence guide for what that licence actually covers and how it is issued.
Common questions
- Is a reach truck the same as a counterbalance forklift?
- No. A counterbalance truck balances the load with a rear counterweight and turns its whole chassis into the aisle; a reach truck extends the forks out to the load from a mostly stationary position, which is what lets it work in a narrower aisle.
- Can a reach truck work outdoors?
- Generally not well. Reach trucks are built for flat, sealed indoor floors and are almost always electric, so rough yard surfaces and long outdoor runs are not what they are designed for.
- How much narrower is a reach truck aisle than a counterbalance aisle?
- It depends on the specific trucks being compared, their mast height and load. The manufacturer publishes a minimum aisle width for each configuration, and that is the figure to use for planning rather than a general rule.
- Do reach trucks need a different licence to counterbalance forklifts?
- No. Both sit under the same forklift licence class in Australia. Site-specific familiarisation on a particular reach truck model is a separate, additional step from the licence itself — see the licensing rules that cover forklift operation.
- What racking suits a reach truck fleet?
- Anything from standard standard selective racking up to two-pallets-deep systems on reach-truck configurations built for it, since the truck reaches out to the load rather than needing to turn the whole chassis in. Confirm the specific configuration with the racking supplier before assuming a standard reach truck can handle a deeper storage layout.
Part of our guide to forklift types and selection.