Contrary to an agreement between the three leading international materials handling exhibitions' organisers in 2006, Manutention will hold its next exhibition in 2008.

Manutention 2008 will be on March 11-14, while CeMAT 2008 will be on May 27-31.

CeMAT organiser Deutsche Messe spokesperson Brigitte Mahnken-Brandhorst said the organisers of CeMAT, Manutention and IMHX had agreed to hold their shows on three-year terms.

"We do not have an official statement from Manutention on why the rhythm has changed. Anyway, CeMAT 2008 will be in May and we are sure it will be a great success," she said.

Deputy exhibition director for Manutention 2008, Pierre-Yves Protais, told Forkliftaction.com News the change of mind for the France-based show was because of its strong partnership with SITL Europe.

SITL Europe, a French logistics trade show, was held every two years.

At the end of Manutention 2006, visitors filled out a questionnaire on the show.

About 91 per cent of those surveyed said they appreciated the joint exhibition of Manutention and SITL Europe. Also, 92 per cent said they did not intend to visit CeMAT 2008.

"We didn't know in 2006 we would hold Manutention in 2008 but we asked them the question (about CeMAT) and most of them said no," Protais said.

He said Manutention used to be an international show but had become increasingly local. In the past, about 20 per cent to 30 per cent of visitors came from outside France. Last year, only 15 per cent of visitors were from other countries.

"We are not making extra effort in promoting the show internationally. We encourage foreign exhibitors interested in the French market but are not so interested in attracting international visitors.

"CeMAT and Manutention are not competitors," Protais said.

Daniel Vanhemelrijck, sales and marketing manager of Doosan Infracore Europe, said he was unaware of the change.

"As one of the major forklift suppliers we are obliged to be at both exhibitions, especially since we changed our brand name to Doosan and the colour of our trucks to orange.

"But I don't think it's a good idea since all suppliers with limited budgets will focus on CeMAT, of course," he said.

"Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift Europe's marketing manager Gian Schiava said he did not have a problem with Manutention's new date.

"We have not decided with our national distributor Aprolis on whether to participate [in Manutention]. If we decide to, Aprolis, as a Cat distributor, will organise the participation with support from us."

Schiava said he regarded CeMAT and Logistica as "true international" exhibitions.
"That's why we organise participation ourselves. We will be present with a large Mitsubishi Forklift Trucks stand, supporting our growth targets in Germany. Preparations are already under way," he said.

Bernard De Meester, director of forklift parts company TVH Group, said it would be expensive to attend two "major exhibitions" in the same year.

"What could be the reason behind the shift? I thought the original arrangement worked out quite well, three major exhibitions during three consecutive years in three large economical countries, the UK, France and Germany, each country being an important country for the industry."

TVH and Mitsubishi did not participate in Manutention 2006. Doosan Infracore Europe was present to boost brand recognition of Doosan following the group's acquisition of a majority shareholding in Daewoo Heavy Industries and Machinery in 2005 (Forkliftaction.com News #303).

CeMAT 2005 attracted an international audience, with 35 per cent of trade visitors from outside Germany. Of that percentage, 11.1 per cent were from Asia and 10.7 per cent from the USA. About 1,000 exhibitors occupied 75,000 square metres of display space at CeMAT 2005, of which 43 per cent were from outside Germany. Organisers announced in 2006 the show would move to the northern hemisphere spring (Forkliftaction.com News #303).

More than 18,000 people visited the IMHX 2007 from March 13 to March 16 at Britain's National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. No information is available yet on the show's proportion of foreign visitors.