Bernhard Kahn

Snorkel, the global manufacturer of aerial work platforms, has appointed Ahern Deutschland as its sales and service representative in Germany and Austria.

A new entity, Ahern Deutschland, is part of the Ahern International division, which also includes Ahern Australia, Ahern Japan and Ahern Canada. The Ahern International operations are solely focused on regional equipment distribution, supporting customers in the rental industry and end-user sectors, and do not offer any equipment rental services.

Ahern Deutschland will provide nationwide sales and service for Snorkel aerial work platforms and Xtreme Manufacturing telehandlers. It will be based in Cologne and Frankfurt within the Westerwald-Rhein/Sieg area of Germany, where the company plans to open an 18,000 sqm facility later this year. The facility will incorporate a showroom, office and training space, a fully equipped workshop, a spare parts warehouse and a yard for stock machines.

Ahern Deutschland will be led by Bernhard Kahn who joins as general manager. Kahn has over 20 years of experience in the aerial lift industry, starting his career as an independent service technician in the 1990s.

Bernhard is responsible for developing sales of Snorkel and Xtreme equipment in the German and Austrian markets, through the Ahern Deutschland entity, which will initially employ eight staff.

To effectively support the customer base, Ahern Deutschland will hold a large stock of machines and spare parts at its facility, which will be available to customers in the German mainland and surrounding regions. This will be backed by a network of mobile service engineers providing nationwide coverage for technical support, troubleshooting, and product training.

Ahern Deutschland will handle all Snorkel sales in Germany and Austria, supported by existing Snorkel distribution partners and resellers in the region, as appropriate.