WORLD NEWS
7
JULY-AUGUST 2013
access
INTERNATIONAL
2013
Europlatform 2013
October 3, 2013
Istanbul, Turkey
International Construction
Economic Forum (ICEF)
November 20-22, 2013
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2014
Intermat Middle East 2014
January 14-16, 2014
Abu Dhabi
ConExpo-Con/Agg 2014
March 4 – 8, 2014
Las Vegas, USA
IAPA Awards/IPAF Summit
2014
April 3, 2014
Windsor, near London, UK
Samoter 2014
May 8 – 11, 2014
Verona, Italy
2015
ConExpo Latin America
October 21-24, 2015
Santiago, Chile
DIARY
■
China-based access equipment
manufacturer
Mantall
has named
Langmahr as its distributor in
Hungary.
Mantall’s vice general manager
Shirley Li visited the company
following bauma to officially appoint
it as a distributor. Langmahr already
has a rental fleet of 100 Mantall
units and has recently opened a new
facility for sales, maintenance and
training in the country,
■
Snorkel
has officially launched
its direct sales and service
operation for the UK and Ireland in
June. Snorkel UK will deal direct
with plant hire and equipment rental
companies, as well as Snorkel
re-sellers. The manufacturer has
created a dedicated team that
is to be supported by its factory.
IN BRIEF
Ashtead sees
profit boost
Ashtead Group expects profits
in the coming year to be ahead
of expectations as the business
continues to benefit from “strong
momentum [and a] cyclical
recovery still to come.”
Sunbelt Rentals in the US
continues to be the strong
performer, with rental revenues
in the fourth quarter to 30 April
up 23% and up 21% over the
full year, driven by a larger fleet
on rent and improving prices.
Operating profits at Sunbelt for
the year were up 56% to US$453
million on revenues of $1820
million.
Its UK business, A-Plant,
saw more modest growth, with
revenues for the final quarter
up 11% to £52.7 million, and
operating profits almost doubling
to £2.6 million. Revenues for
the year were up 9% to £206.1
million, with operating profits
nearly double at £10.3 million.
A-Plant’s revenue growth was
the result of an 11% increase
in fleet on rent, offset by a 2%
decline in yields. Ashtead said
A-Plant performed well in
difficult market conditions.
Ashtead’s chief executive, Geoff
Drabble, said the results were
excellent; “Our largely organic
investment strategy has again
delivered strong revenue growth
together with margin and return
on investment improvement.
“We continue to make
significant investment in the
business with capital expenditure
of £580m in the year and a similar
level planned for the coming year.
As a result of our strong margins,
we are able to support this
investment while at the same time
continuing to delever.
“We anticipate that our profits
in the coming year will be ahead
of our earlier expectations,” said a
company spokesman.
Fatal boom collapse prompts
Kimberly fleet stand down
Kimberly Access grounded its
fleet of Genie Z-135/70 booms
after one of them collapsed in
June onto the M25 highway in
Buckinghamshire, UK.
The incident occurred at the
rental company’s West London
depot on Wednesday 5 June.
The operator, who was the depot
foreman, died at the scene.
In a letter to its customers
Kimberly Group chairman Ray
Ledger said the deceased was a
highly qualified engineer with
several years’ experience working
in the sector.
He added, “We would also
confirm that the machine was one
of a batch of 15 new Z-135/70
machines delivered by Genie
during the past six weeks.”
“Following the incident we
immediately took the decision
to ground all our Genie Z-135’s,
pending the outcome of
investigations by the Health and
Safety Executive (HSE).”
In a statement immediately
following the incident, Terex
AWP, the manufacturer of the
Genie Z-135/70, said it was very
saddened to hear of the incident
and its foremost concern was for
the victim’s family.
“Terex AWP has dispatched
technical experts to the scene
and is working with experts to
support the determination of the
root cause of this tragic accident.
We will also fully cooperate
with authorities during their
investigation to understand the
cause of the accident.”
In his letter Mr Ledger added,
“At this stage the outcome of
the HSE investigation is not
yet known and in our view no
conclusions can be reached
regarding the reasons for the
incident. In our opinion the
only safe and responsible course
of action is to re-affirm the
grounding of all our Genie
Z-135s until further notice.”
At the time of going to press in
mid-July the Health and Safety
Executive was still carrying out
its investigations.
Geda has supplied 12 hoists
to the construction site of
the world’s biggest hospital
project, the Stockholm
University Hospital Nya
Karolinska.
Lead contractor Skanska
brought in two Geda Multilift
P6 and 10 Geda 2 PK crane
operator hoists to assist
with work on the 32,000 m
2
construction site.
They will be used to access
400 stacked temporary
construction site containers
being used as offices for
Skanska.
