Dear Linette,
WELCOME TO FORKLIFTACTION.COM,
MATERIALS HANDLING ONLINE.
This is issue #158 - 20 May 2004
of the weekly newsletter for industry
professionals.
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1.
NEAR-RECORD BELGIAN STRADDLE ORDER 
ANTWERP, Belgium
Kalmar
Industries has received one of the largest orders to
date for its Edrive ESC straddle carrier, with a request
for 29 units from MSC Home Terminal in
Antwerp.
All 29 machines have a three-high
stacking ability, and 15 units are equipped with
Kalmar's extendable twinlift spreaders, which have a 50
ton (45 tonnes) capacity. The 29 machines are due for
delivery late this year and early next
year.
Financial details of the contract were not
released.
MSC Home Terminal is a joint venture
between Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and
Hesse-Noord Natie NV. Hesse-Noord Natie was acquired by
PSA Corporation Ltd in 2002 and handled 4.3m TEU that
year. The PSA group has terminals in Belgium, Brunei,
China, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Portugal, Singapore
and Thailand, and handled 28.7 million TEU in
2003.
Hesse-Noord Natie's partner in Home
Terminal Antwerp, MSC, is one of the biggest global
container shipping lines. Founded in 1970 and based in
Geneva, MSC operates a fleet of more than 200 vessels
with a total capacity of more than 500,000
TEU.
Kalmar will establish its own sales company
in Belgium, Kalmar Belgium NV, on June 1 through the
acquisition of BIA NV's materials handling equipment
division in Antwerp. Damien Cols, currently BIA sales
manager, will become managing director, and Vincent
Josse, currently BIA technical manager, will become
technical director.
Before the new arrangement,
Kalmar had two distributors in Belgium: BIA and Catracom
NV. BIA focused on heavy products, while Catracom sold
Kalmar's counterbalanced equipment. Catracom will
continue as a Kalmar distributor.
- Kalmar Industries
website -
2.
SOUTHERN STATES TOYOTALIFT JOINS TMHU
NETWORK
IRVINE, CA, United
States
Southern States Toyotalift, the new owner of
Handling Systems Engineering, has joined Toyota Material
Handling USA Inc's (TMHU) dealer network.
The
dealership is based in Jacksonville, Florida, USA, and
has a Florida branch in Ocala and three Georgia branches
in Valdosta, Columbus and Macon.
Southern States
was formed on May 1 and acquired Handling Systems on May
3 through an asset purchase transaction. Terms were not
disclosed.
Southern States dealer principal Jeff
Fischer also owns Florida Lift Systems Inc (FLS) and its
three Toyota dealer locations in Orlando, Tampa and
Winter Haven, Florida. FLS joined the TMHU dealer
network in 2000. Handling Systems had been part of the
same network since 1989.
"Jeff Fischer and his
team at Florida Lift Systems are consistently strong
performers, and we are proud to see him extend his
operations to serve additional customers in Florida and
Georgia," said Shankar Basu, TMHU president and chief
executive officer.
The ownership transition in
Jacksonville does not appear to have an impact on
pending Crown Equipment Corporation lawsuits relating to
breach-of-agreement issues in Tampa, against FLS and
TMHU.
Crown sued FLS on January 13 and TMHU on
February 4 (Forkliftaction.com News #144). FLS
counter sued on March 8 (Forkliftaction.com News #149). Crown
has sought to terminate FLS as a Crown dealer in the
central Florida market.
Southern States is the
trading-as identity of a separate, distinct corporate
entity with no relationship to Crown.
- TMHU website -
3.
HYSTER TESTS HEAVY-DUTY CONTAINER
HANDLER
GREENVILLE, NC, United
States
Hyster Co is conducting performance tests of a
new mast-equipped container handling truck with a
possibly unprecedented lifting capacity of 88,185 pounds
(40 tonnes).
Production is scheduled to start in
several months. Testing of the H1150HD has reached more
than 4,000 hours. Last year tests began in Rotterdam,
the Netherlands, in March and in New Orleans, LA, USA,
in December. Testing continued in both port locations,
said George Marshall, Hyster vice president for big
trucks.
Hyster believes the new model could be
the only masted top-pick machine in that capacity
available anywhere, Mr Marshall said. The H1150HD
supplements a series of boom trucks with capacities up
to 80,000 pounds (36 tonnes).
The new cab's
design emphasises operator ergonomics and supports quick
moves of container loads at port terminals and rail
intermodal yards.
- Hyster website -
4.
**ADVERTISEMENT** AGENTS, DEALERS WANTED
Oy Meclift Ltd, a Finnish
manufacturer of innovative cargo handling equipment, is
looking for agents and dealers worldwide.
Meclift
products include variable reach trucks and side reach
stackers for handling containers and heavy loads in
harbours, paper mills, steel mills and railways. Lift
capacities range from 12 to 70 tonnes.
If you are
interested in promoting these world-class products,
forward your company name, website, contact person,
phone, fax and email address to sales@meclift.fi.
All enquiries
will be treated confidentially.
See www.meclift.fi for more company and
product information.
5.
WAREHOUSE SEGMENT RECOVERING, SAYS BT
MJOLBY, Sweden
BT
Industries' first quarter report shows demand for
warehouse materials handling equipment is
recovering.
"The increase was expected, since the
combustion-powered counterbalanced truck segment grew
relatively strongly in 2003," the report said. "This
segment usually includes customers and industries that
are early in the business cycle, signifying a more
general upswing."
BT chief executive Per Zaunders
said the USA was the strongest geographic region.
"During the first quarter the increase was most clearly
evident in the counterbalanced truck segment, but the
positive development in demand is now obvious in the
warehouse truck segment as well," he said.
During
the first quarter, orders received rose 7% to SEK3,242
million (USD428 million). Net sales rose only
marginally, from SEK2,923 million (USD385.8 million) to
SEK2,960 million (USD390.7 million).
"The
positive development during the first quarter of 2004
underscores that the market has now begun to recover and
that BT has successfully been able to satisfy the higher
demand," Mr Zaunders said.
- BT Industries
website -
6.
YALE RECOGNISES 13 DEALERS OF EXCELLENCE
GREENVILLE, NC, United
States
Yale Materials Handling Corp has crowned this
year's 13 winners of its Dealer of Excellence
awards.
All Yale dealers compete annually in the
Challenge of Excellence program, and Dealers of
Excellence awards are presented to the best-performing
among them.
"Every year our dealers raise the bar
for the Challenge of Excellence program," said Yale
president Don Chance. "This year’s winners have
successfully hurdled that raised bar through their
dedication."
DEALER OF EXCELLENCE WINNERS
•
Berry Material Handling
• Black Equipment Co
• ED
Farrell Co
• Eastern Lift Truck Co
• Hy-Tek
Material Handling
• Insley-McEntee Equipment Co
•
Key Material Handling Equipment Co
• Northland
Industrial Truck Co
• Yale Equipment & Services
Inc
• Yale Industrial Trucks - Gulf/Atlantic
•
Yale Industrial Trucks - Pittsburgh
• Yale Materials
Handling - Dougherty Equipment
• Yale Materials
Handling - Green Bay
DEALERS OF MERIT
• Alta
Lift Truck Services
• Barclay Brand Ferdon
•
M&G Materials Handling Co
• Riekes Equipment
Co
• The Lilly Co
• Yale Industrial Trucks -
Fresno
DEALERS OF VALUE
• Briggs
Equipment
• Fitzgerald Equipment Co
• H&E
Equipment Services
• Hilo Yale Industrial Trucks
•
Medley Material Handling Co
• National Lift Truck
Service
• Ohio Materials Handling Inc
• The
Brennan Industrial Trucks
• Tynan Equipment Co
•
Yale - Pacific
• Yale/Chase Materials Handling
Inc
• Yale Materials Handling Gammon Inc
• Yale
Materials Handling - Torrance
- Yale website -
7.
KCI KONECRANES: CLEAR 1Q IMPROVEMENT
HYVINKKÄÄ, Finland
KCI
Konecranes, which celebrated its 10th anniversary on
April 15, showed a "clear improvement" in its latest
quarterly report.
Orders have had double-digit
growth for three consecutive quarters.
In
standard lifting and special cranes, growth was
attributed to R&D efforts that led to new products
and growth in the Chinese market. The global industry
was restructuring radically, according to the company's
report, resulting in the loss of maintenance contracts.
In 2003, the loss ratio was 16%, but new contracts grew
21%.
KCI's total quarterly sales were EUR152.2
million (USD182.9 million), up 1% on last year's result.
Asia-Pacific now represents 22.1% of the company's total
sales, almost doubling that of the first quarter last
year.
Total orders received were EUR171 million
(USD205.5 million), up 14.4%. Operating income was
EUR2.5 million (USD3 million), a boost of 75.6% over
2003, and net income, at EUR1.3 million (USD1.6
million), eclipsed last year's first quarter by
114.9%.
- KCI
Konecranes website -
8.
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9.
LINDE AGM INTERRUPTED BY BOMB THREAT
MUNICH, Germany
Linde
AG's annual meeting was evacuated and relocated on May
18 after a bomb threat.
Shareholders and Linde
management were evacuated from the building, and the
meeting was held later at the nearby Munich trade
fair.
No details of the threat, nor any subsequent
arrests, were released.
10.
FAIRWAY PRESERVES AN AIRWAYS' LEGEND
GLASGOW, United
Kingdom
Fairway Forklifts Ltd has been hired to help
preserve an important piece of aerospace history, the
Concorde.
Fairway was asked to supply a forklift
to the National Museums of Scotland's Museum of Flight
to help relocate a British Airways Concorde (pictured)
to its final resting place in the museum's aerospace
exhibit.
The company, which is Toyota's Scottish
dealer, supplied a 7FDF25, which had been moving engines
and pallets for the project.
- Fairway
Forklifts website -
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11.
TOYOTA MATERIAL HANDLING, U.S.A. INTRODUCES NEW LINE OF
ELECTRIC REACH TRUCKS
IRVINE, CA, United
States
Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A., Inc. has
introduced its 7-Series Electric Reach Trucks, including
single reach, double reach and straddle trucks in 3,000
lb. to 5,000 lb. capacities.
The trucks feature a
multifunction control handle to simplify operation and
electronic power steering for precise
maneuverability.
The line incorporates the SepEx™
drive motor, while the Toyota Advanced Control System
allows smooth speed control.
The operator compartment
is designed to maximize comfort. An ERGOMAT® floor pad
absorbs vibrations, and lean points are cushioned for
comfort.
For more information, visit www.toyotaforklift.com or call
1-800-226-0009.
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