By Christine Cranney

Irish materials handling equipment dealers are doing it tough with access to finance a major issue. It is not surprising that many are relying on the export market to survive.

Chris O'Connor, managing director of Dublin-headquartered Henley Forklift Group Ltd, says the main concern in the industry is the availability of finance from banks. "Most materials handling equipment represent a capital purchase for customers and obtaining finance has been a serious issue for a number of customers. This draws out the decision process and the time from quote to decision has stretched out."

O'Connor says customers are seeking ways to procure equipment that do not involve outright payment. "Furthermore, we have seen customers more inclined to contract hire trucks nowadays, using the forklift supplier as the bank as it were. With the withdrawal of the foreign banks from the Irish market, there aren't many options."

Henley Group is the sole Irish distributor for Mitsubishi forklifts, Atlet warehouse trucks, Fantuzzi side-loaders and container handlers, and Sichelschmidt flameproof forklifts.

Michael Fitzgerald, export sales manager from Cork-based Mallow Road Engineering Ltd, agrees that these are difficult times.

He describes his company's experience over the past three years: "In 2008, [the market] abruptly [stagnated] in October, but before that, it was not that bad a year. In 2009, [we had] some sales of used equipment, with new equipment sales few and far between. Last year, some confidence returned. There were enquiries but some were lost due to scarce access to finance."

Fitzgerald says his company is not depending on the domestic market but has increased exports by 40% to Canada, US, Russia, France and South Africa.

"The real fear is if you have another period of uncertainty and a global downturn, then we will return to reduced exports and negative growth," he adds.

Kieran Clancy, director of Dublin-based Industrial Tyre Specialists, says this is the first year of growth for his company. "We took on a new employee and another one part-time. Small growth for 2011 is expected."

Clancy says Industrial Tyre and his competitors are grappling with issues that include the high cost of waste disposal, receiving containers on time, keeping stocks at a manageable level and cross-border tyre dumping.

Henley's O'Connor says that the Irish equipment market is also changing. "The market for internal combustion (IC) forklifts has been plummeting since 2007. In 2007-2009, there was about 80% decline in IC forklifts and has remained around the same levels since."

O'Connor explains that while there are signs of improvement in certain IC forklift models, the market for the larger capacity (6 T and above) trucks has practically disappeared, especially with the decline of the construction industry.

He estimates that about half of the electric forklift market now consists of powered pallet trucks. "The Irish market was traditionally underdeveloped when it came to warehousing equipment and that balance is being rectified now.

"There is a greater demand for bespoke solutions in warehouses and designs that are very specific to the application," he adds.