Publicly traded Essex Rental Corp. is moving to sell forklifts and aerial work platforms that it deems outside its core business.

For the nine months ended 30 September, Essex says the forklift "and other equipment" category had a utilisation rate of 40.1%, which was lower than some other Essex lines such as rough-terrain cranes at 66.3% and boom trucks at 54.1%.

"We are continuing to focus on selling rental fleet assets with low utilisation . . . which we believe (will) generate a return of capital instead of a return on capital," Ronald Schad, president and chief executive officer, says in a 12 March report of financial results. "These non-core assets that were acquired as part of the Coast acquisition include aerial work platforms and forklifts."

Essex Rental acquired the assets of Coast Crane Co of Seattle, Washington for USD82.5 million and assumed Coast liabilities of USD20.7 million on 24 November 2010. Together, the operations have 22 service centres and equipment storage yards in 12 US states and one Canadian province.

The inventory list on the Coast website includes three Komatsu forklifts; 11 JLG, Gradall, Lull and SkyTrak aerial work platforms; 21 JLG and Grove boom lifts and 17 Grove, Skyjack and JLG scissor lifts.

Essex consolidated Coast's finance and accounting functions within the parent's headquarters in Buffalo Grove. The relocation to Buffalo Grove from Seattle began in December and was completed during 2012's first quarter. "We expect that this consolidation will generate approximately USD350,000 in annual savings," Schad says.

Essex Rental reported a loss of USD17.1 million on 2011 sales of USD89.6 million. The revenue included USD42 million from equipment rentals, USD14.2 million from retail equipment sales, USD9.8 million from retail parts sales and USD6.5 million from used rental equipment sales.