LIFT TRUCK SUPPLIERS DISCUSS LATEST TRENDS

Logistics Insight Asia, 1/11/2007

Lift truck suppliers have some strong opinions on business trends affecting their industry and those of their customers. Those opinions were analyzed at recent meeting of the Industrial Truck Association(ITA), held in Banff, Canada.

ITA revealed a high likelihood of US lift trucks being exported to China as well as partnering with Chinese lift truck manufacturers to produce trucks in China.

As for the impact of Chinese-made lift trucks on the U.S. market, feelings are mixed, depending on the class of lift truck. For Classes 1 and 2 (electric motor rider and narrow-aisle) there’s been a decrease in expectation of a significant impact in the next five years. Class 4 (internal combustion engine, cushion-tire) shows an increased expectation of impact and Classes 3 (pallet trucks) and 5 (internal combustion engine, pneumatic-tire) show a continued expectation of fairly high impact. Jim Malvaso, President and CEO of Raymond Corp and ITA President, later commented that while there are good opportunities for cooperation between the ITA and the China Industrial Truck Association (CITA), there are distinct differences between thetwo markets.

“We still have a regional marketplace because of the service requirements of a lift truck,” Malvaso said. “I’m confident the major manufacturers in the US are in alignment with their distributors. That said, China has 1.2 billion people and they produced and shipped about 110,000 lift trucks last year. In the US we have 300 million people. We have sophisticated logistics systems because our needs mandate it. China will be challenged to meet its own demand.”

FUTURE FUEL CELLS
ITA members believe there’s a high likelihood that fuel-cell-equipped lift trucks (Classes 1, 2, and 3) will be commercially available in the US by 2012. They’re not so convinced that hybrid lift trucks in Classes 4 and 5 will be readily available by then, however (maybe a 50/50chance).

Aurelio Carinci, Director of Sales for GNB Industrial Power, division of Exide Technologies, said although it looks like fuel cells will make an appearance on the market in the next few years, he does not see them gaining significant marketshare.

“Today they’re four to five times the cost of industrial batteries,” he noted. “There are great strides being made to educate the user, and that’s what will make the technology take off. It will be very effective in Class 1 and 2 vehicles as costs come down.”