MIDDLE EAST
15
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2014
access
INTERNATIONAL
TheMiddle East is
establishing itself as
amajor AWPmarket,
although the usual
requirements, including
amore evolved safety
culture, are not quite there
yet.
EuanYoudale
reports
“A good examplewould be Saudi Arabia.”
Indeed,Saudi Arabia leads theway as
themost dominantAWPmarket.Arthur
Danelian,managing director atHaulotte
MiddleEast explains, “This growth is
sustained by a huge number of construction
projects which are ongoing in the country.
Saudi Arabia is developing its infrastructure
very quickly,which leads to a very big demand
of all types of construction equipment.”
TheAFI rental group operates asAccess
RentalGulf (ARG) in theUAE andSaudi
Arabia.According toNickSelley,AFI’sGroup
business development director, “We are seeing
strong growth in our twomarketsUAE and
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA.) Key factors
driving growth areExpo 2020 inDubai and
continuing investment in infrastructure to
develop the economies.”
Qatar is also a growthmarket,primarily due
to investment ahead of it hosting the FIFA
WorldCup tournament,which is also driving
a renewed focus on safeworking at height.
Diesel booms are particularly popular,Mr
Selley adds,due to the nature of projects
T
hemarket in theMiddleEast is driven
by oil& gas and construction, “The
nature of the region,which is oil rich,
meansmost economies depend on oil& gas
production.Projects are always on the rise,”
explains Sharbel Kordahi, generalmanager
MiddleEast atTerexAWP. “There is also a
big demand onhousing as well as commercial
and industrial construction due to the growing
population andmarket demand.”
Rental companies have seen significant
growth in the region, an example being
LavendonGroup. ItsMiddleEast business,
representing 21% of the group’s turnover,
grew 13% in the first half of the year,which
followed even stronger growth over the last
two years.
“Themarket outlook for the region
continues to be positive andwewill allocate,
as planned, additional capital into the region
in the comingmonths,”said a company
spokesperson.
AsEwanMacAngus, JLGmarket
development director, says, countries investing
in infrastructure are seeing themost growth.
in theMiddleEast,which are typically
construction orientated, like airports, seaports,
power stations.Thesemachines are typically
45 ft and 60 ft working heights. “Power plants
and oil& gas installations are andwill be the
main drivers for the future.”
According to him an estimated $20 billion
will be needed to expand power generation
plants in themedium termwhichwill drive
long termmaintenance requirements.
MrDanelian, atHaulotteMiddleEast,
has a similar view of themarket.He says
articulated booms around 16m to 26m are
popular thanks tomany new infrastructure
projects like airports and bridges.He adds
that electric scissors are also seeing significant
growthnow various construction projects are
entering their latter stages,with that type of
equipment also required formaintenance once
construction is complete.
AsMalcolmEarly, vice president of
marketing for Skyjack puts it, “Although
scissors dominate the access equipment
market in theMiddleEast, in terms of
scissor to booms ratio, the regionhas a higher
Finding its feet
JLG booms help construct
the Ferrari World project,
Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Haulotte’s HA16 RTJ-1 boom carries
window cleaning.
