STILL GmbH is forecasting an increase in revenue, fleet size and the importance of the short-term rental (STR) business.

Spokeswoman Jacqueline Wiecker tells Forkliftaction.com News: "The main factors driving this trend are the rising demand for flexibility and 'all-inclusive services'. Customers are seeking direct and easy access to suppliers offering full services in reference to availability, vehicle diversity and support products."

Wiecker thinks that all of the European countries are showing positive STR growth rates. "We are confident that this trend will prevail in the future. Countries with the highest increase in STR revenue are Germany, the Netherlands and Poland. The rental markets in the UK and France are already highly developed and are, therefore, showing only limited growth.

"The trend for large cross-border STR projects strengthens the STR growth in general."

STILL will not disclose the size of its rental fleet "for competitive reasons", but assures customers that its trucks are of "very high quality standard" and that almost all of its truck types are offered.

Philippe Mulot, head of used truck and short-term rental at Linde Material Handling, says his company is continually renewing its fleet due to ongoing demand from customers.

"Short-term and long-term rental leasing is an amazing growth story in Europe," Mulot explains. "Even in Spain, Italy, Sweden or United Kingdom, most of our trucks are rental trucks. Our customers like to reduce the complexity on their side and Linde MH is able to handle this over the whole lifecycle of a truck."

Linde MH's rental fleet that is supplied by its dealers and subsidiaries worldwide consists of about 45,000 trucks.

"The trucks are based at our dealerships or subsidiaries all around the world. In some countries, we have a central fleet for special trucks," Mulot says.

Toyota Material Handling Europe has also continued to see increased demand for its short-term rental forklifts over the last three years. Jaroslav Antene, director of business solutions, says that his company will expand the rental business as customer demand grows.

"It seems that a traditional, seasonal peak trend has been less visible in the European market. Short-term rental is an option for those who are looking for (a) more flexible solution," Antene adds.

He will not reveal the size of the TMHE rental fleet, but claims it has among the largest fleet in Europe and "we have all our models available for STR".