RENTAL REPORTS
44
Analysing
the industry
IPAF’s
US and European Powered Access Rental
Market Reports 2014
see the US chalking up
double-digit growth and mixed signals in Europe.
Average utilisation rates increased slightly in
2013, as did rental rates.
“Signs are that the US AWP rental market
is striking back and returning to its glory days,
but the industry has learnt from the excesses of
the past and is banking on cautious optimism
and solid growth strategies,” says Tim
Whiteman, IPAF CEO.
Stable in Europe
The European mobile elevating work platform
(MEWP) rental market remained stable in
2013, continuing the trend in 2012. However,
strong differences exist among the 10 countries
under study: Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway,
Spain, Sweden and the UK.
Some countries achieved positive growth:
Germany, Norway, Sweden and the UK saw
their rental revenue increase around 5%.
The UK MEWP rental fleet appears to
have reached its pre-recession levels. However,
rental companies remained cautious and kept
an unchanged split between construction and
non-construction applications.
In Germany, both fleet size and rental rates
increased slightly.The trend towards non-
construction applications is continuing.
In Sweden, fleet size and rental revenue
increased while rental rates were maintained at
a relatively stable level.
Other countries such as Denmark and
France saw the MEWP rental market remain
flat or decrease slightly.
In Denmark, neither the fleet nor the rental
rates increased.
In France, despite a slight increase in fleet
size, overall rental revenue did not increase,
due to a decrease in utilisation rate and rental
rates.
Marking the contrasts across Europe, the
MEWP rental market decreased in Finland,
Italy and the Netherlands, and decreased
strongly in Spain.
Trying to counter this negative trend, rental
companies de-fleeted and also kept reducing
their rates. Only Finland, which experienced
positive growth during the past years, kept
expanding the rental fleet.
Overall, growth is expected in the European
MEWP rental market in 2014, but the report
predicts growth marked by contrasts among
countries. Germany and the UK should lead
the growth, while Italy and Spain bear hope
for stabilisation in 2014.
AI
As this issue was going to press, the IPAF
US and
European Powered Access Rental Market Reports
2014
were being finalised. Both reports include
forecasts for growth and fleet composition in the
coming years, and an estimate of the size of the
AWP rental fleet worldwide, with a breakdown by
region and by machine type. The US report also
covers Canada.
The studies were conducted by Ducker
Research using the same approach to build on the
reports from previous years. New for 2014 is an
introduction into the AWP rental market in China.
Get the full figures and purchase these publications
at
ABOUT THE REPORTS
L
atest results from the International
Powered Access Federation’s (IPAF)
2
014 Powered Access Rental Market
Reports
indicate that the US aerial work
platform rental market is rebounding with
stellar growth of around 10% in 2013. On the
other hand the rental market research reveals
that the European market remains stable,
marked by stark differences across different
countries.
Interviews conducted with rental companies
in the US confirm forecasts made in last
year’s report, even surpassing the growth rates
predicted. Rental companies expect the market
to follow similar growth trends in 2014 and
2015.
As predicted in the 2013 report, the US
AWP rental fleet expanded strongly (5 to 10%)
in 2013 and has now reached pre-recession
levels.This rebound is flanked by two factors
– a slight increase in new machine investment
coupled with a reduction in fleet sell-offs.
Similar fleet growth is expected in 2014.
While the US AWP fleet has returned to
its pre-recession size, rental companies did
not increase the share of their business in
construction applications. Instead, companies
kept up their rental operations in other sectors
such as industrial, maintenance, utilities,
leisure, events, etc.This shows that rental
companies have become more cautious over
the years and are keeping a good level of
diversification to avoid potential business risks.
950,000 UNITS
Estimated Worldwide MEWP rental fleet size 2013
access
INTERNATIONAL
MARCH-APRIL 2014
