While the world is only now beginning to shrug off the worldwide economic shutdown attributed to September 11 and the subsequent war on terror, the Australian materials handling industry has been booming for well over a year.
In what appears to be a snub to the world's problems, the Australian market has happily continued to grow, with all manufacturers contacted by Forkliftaction.com reporting growth both in sales and market share.
While Australia represents only a fraction of the world market for industrial forklifts and materials handling machinery, this self-contained market has operated separately from the world market for many years.
Steve Stewart, general manager of sales for the Powerlift Group, a privately-owned company which represents SMV, Nissan and Raymond in Australia, said the market "generally" was not affected by situations overseas.
"We don't tend to be affected by outside market tremors, but it is a cyclical market, like anything else," he said. "This year has been a good one, but no doubt there'll be bad ones in the future."
Mr Stewart said the year to June 30, which is the end of the financial year for most Australian businesses, was a great year for the Powerlift.
In the second half, from January to June, orders improved by more than 40% from the 2002 figures. While Mr Stewart would not discuss specifics, he said many large, national supply contracts had been won.
While its staple product was Nissan's new LX forklift range, known in Japan as the Agres, sales of SMV and Raymond products had increased markedly.
"If we can maintain the growth we've enjoyed in the last six months, 2003 will be a very successful year for us," he said. "The new Nissan LX, which replaced the J Series, was introduced in September, and demand has been far outweighing supply."
Alan Foulkes, manager of Clark Equipment Australia, which manufactures the Omega range of 10-tonne to 48-tonne heavy forklifts at its Hornsby facility, said while it was a "tough" year, the market performed considerably well.
Clark acted for Noell in winning a major diesel-electric straddle carrier contract for Ports of Auckland in New Zealand last September. Clark Equipment New Zealand, a subsidiary of Clark Australia, won the deal, which was a first for POA, which ran a 40-machine Kalmar fleet.
Mr Foulkes said the company had seen growth from both inside and outside Australia. Servicing the entire Asia-Pacific region and exporting worldwide, Clark had made significant sales in Papua New Guinea and won large national contracts in Australia.
Ken Rathgen, managing director of MLA Holdings, which represents Mitsubishi in Australia, said it had been great year for the Australian market. The release of Mitsubishi's new Grendia had been well received, and had allowed the company to gain some market share from Komatsu, Nissan and Toyota.
Hyster heavy forklift salesman John Pierce, who has worked in the Australian forklift market for more than 40 years, said the year had seen a marked swing from container handlers to reachstackers.
"I don't think reachstackers will ever overtake container handlers in terms of sales, but the interest in these versatile machines is definitely on the rise, and sales will be impacted," he said.
Toyota spokesman George Malamatinis told Forkliftaction.com News that the company, which claims to be number one in the Australian market, had increased sales by 30% in the year to June 30.
"Whilst we have seen strong gains across most segments, the most significant areas of growth for Toyota remain in the 1-3 tonne internal combustion counter-balance forklift market," he said.
He said research had shown that the recovery of the US economy and low domestic interest rates would keep the Australian market running steadily into 2004.
In the warehouse truck market, Crown is Australia's leader. Sales and marketing executive director Glenn Pulley said the market for electric walkies, order pickers and other warehouse equipment had improved considerably.
But the good fortune experienced in Australia should not be surprising, after several years of "soft" sales.
"Basically, buyers who were holding off on buying new trucks have stopped waiting. It's a very cyclical industry, which isn't good for the accountants, but that's what happens," he said.
Deliveries of Crown forklifts had grown from 3000 for the six months to June 2002, to 4000 this year. This had seen Crown's market share improve slightly.
"It's one of the few times the Australian market has remained strong despite the economic struggles of the US, Japan and Europe."
Stay tuned for Forkliftaction.com News #130, when chief reporter Damien Tomlinson continues our coverage of the Australian forklift market.
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