Maria Tapper, managing director of CSS.

CSS swings on with DAF
BRISBANE, Australia
A family-owned Brisbane container handling provider has bought a new fleet of DAF trucks to work with its swinglifts (sideloaders).

Brisbane-based Container Swinglift Services (CSS), operated by the Tapper family, was an early adopter of swinglift technology in the 1970s in New Zealand. Swinglifts can lift and transport 20-foot or 40-foot containers weighing up to 45 tonnes, without forklifts.

CSS managing director Maria Tapper said CSS had had problems in the past with other truck brands but, since changing to DAF trucks three years ago, CSS's productivity had improved significantly.

EnerSys hikes price
READING, PA, United States
Industrial battery maker EnerSys has announced a general price increase of six per cent. The increase will be effective for orders of motive power and reserve power products from January 1, 2006.

EnerSys president Europe Ray Kubis said: "The action is necessitated by the sustained increase in commodity costs, especially lead, copper and plastics, coupled with dramatically higher transport and utility costs."

Kubis said electricity costs also contributed to the price increase.

Chinese forklift imports declining
BEIJING, China
From January to October 2005, China's imports of engineering and lifting equipment declined while exports increased significantly.

Xinhua's China Economic Information Service reported customs statistics showed forklift imports totalled USD162 million, down 3.5 per cent from last year. Exports totalled USD207 million, up 32.1 per cent, with a trade surplus of USD45 million.