More employees for truck-mounted forklift brand Moffett will lose their jobs as demand in the construction sector falls.

About 60 workers from Cargotec's truck-mounted forklift brand Moffett will be "let go" due to falling demand in the construction sector. The Argus reported 60 people were made redundant just before Christmas last year.

Cargotec's VP for forklifts and reach stackers, Dan Pettersson, tells Forkliftaction.com News that negotiations with the employees have started.

Some 200 people currently work in Moffett, Pettersson says and the latest layoffs will take effect "as soon as possible".

The demand for load handling equipment has weakened in all Cargotec's markets. There is a "marked fall" in construction and new truck sales compared to 2008.

"Customers' business is slower than before, so they do not need to renew and replace equipment or order service to the same extent as when business was busy," Pettersson says.

All of Cargotec's restructuring measures announced since 2008 are estimated to save the company over EUR150 million (USD223.8 million) annually.

To combat the economic downturn, Pettersson says the company is focusing on having "strong frontline sale and service operations" to meet customers' needs and demands.

"At the moment, we (are merging) Hiab and Kalmar business areas into a new Industrial and Terminal business area. The new organisation has an empowered frontline, wider management span and a flat organisation structure to [boost] customer focus," he explains.

As part of Cargotec's new marketing strategy, the Moffett forklift brand has been rebranded as Hiab while Moffett has been retained as a product name. Other Cargotec on-road load handling brands like Loglift, Multilift and Jonsered are also being rebranded as Hiab. Cargotec now markets under three brands - Hiab, Kalmar and MacGregor (Forkliftaction.com News #419).

As of 1 October 2009, there were 11,000 people working in Cargotec worldwide, compared with 11,800 people in December 2008.