A Fantuzzi forklift.

By Daphne Haneman
Fantuzzi Reggiane Australasia Pty Ltd has appointed NTP Forklifts Australia as distributor of the full Fantuzzi range in all Australian states.

The Italian Fantuzzi Group of Companies supplies and manufactures port equipment and industrial forklifts. It has factories in northern Italy, Germany and China.

The Fantuzzi Australasia head office is in Castle Hill, Sydney. Fantuzzi general manager Mike Ritchie said Fantuzzi had distributors in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, including Fiji and New Caledonia.

Fantuzzi was established in Australia in 1998 to provide ongoing technical support to owners of Fantuzzi machines in Australasia.

Ritchie said support and maintenance was "crucial" and the "major factor" in the decision to appoint NTP as Australian agent.

He said NTP's newly appointed national Fantuzzi manager Tony Bennington had about 12 years' experience with the Fantuzzi brand and "knows the machinery backwards".

He said the Fantuzzi factory, in Lentigione, Italy, often sent staff to Australia to train Australian distributors.

NTP will distribute the complete range of Fantuzzi 10-tonne to 70-tonne forklifts, container lift trucks, reach stackers, side loaders, and container lift trucks in Australia.

A Fantuzzi statement said that, in the last six years, 120 Fantuzzi and Noell units had been distributed in Australasia.

MLA Holdings previously distributed the Fantuzzi range in Australia and that arrangement ceased in January 2006.

Ritchie said an additional New Zealand distributor would be announced in a few months.