MIDDLE EAST
16
access
INTERNATIONAL
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2014
proportion of booms than other ‘traditional’
markets.”
Although electric scissors are primarily used
in construction projects, the development of
hotels, shoppingmalls and resorts, accounts
for the increasing demand for electric scissors
for bothfinishing construction and subsequent
maintenance, saysMr Early.
Articulating booms,mostly IC-powered,
make up the greater part of that segment,Mr
Early adds. “No particular size of articulating
boom dominates - the spread across classes is
reasonably equal.”
In straight booms, the demand is for
24m platformheight and above.Mr Early
adds, “Traditionally the concentration of
petrochemical facilities has been a driver
of large booms.More recently the greater
amount of new buildings, the adoption of
modern architectural designs, alongwith the
move to tall and striking designs,which utilise
cladding, glass panels and ornamental designs,
favours the larger proportion of booms.”
Skyjack has been developing its boom line
but to this day does not produce one above 24
m – a fact that is set to change, “They are in
development,watch this space.”
Over the last few years, addsMr Early,
most activity for access equipment focused on
Saudi Arabia,UAE andTurkey,with amore
than tenfold increase on other states such as
Bahrain,Oman andQatar.
KeremBayrak,Turkey basedELSMakine
owner, agrees there has been demand for
electric scissors recently, “Especially for
shoppingmalls, airports and some business
centres.”The company is also seeing interest
from depots andhotels for its Junior5.5 low
level access platform.
“We attended the IntermatMiddleEast
exhibition and afterwards receivedmany
requests.Before the exhibition,we had plans
to be in this area but the returns from the
show accelerated the plans.”
By the end of 2015 the company plans
to have set up a branch office and a logistic
centre subsidiary namedUpMakine.
Tracked sales
Denmark-based tracked boom and trailer
mount producerOmmeLift is primarily
selling tracked products in theMiddleEast.
“Trailers are not common in the region and
our customers are familiar with transporting
machines on trucks, so the ‘tow-and-go’
concept of trailers is less attractive,”explains
FlemmingHøjberg Jakobsen,OmmeLift area
salesmanager for theMiddleEast.
Sales aremore-or-less split 50/50 between
telescopic and articulated booms, addsMr
Jakobsen, “Furthermore the tracked platforms
are perfect for internal jobs in shoppingmalls,
airports and atriums,due to the lowweights
and compact dimensions.But ourmachines
are alsowidely used for construction.”
Sales of crawlermounted booms are on the
up as awareness of their unique capabilities
grows.Mr Jakobsen continues, “Our dealers in
the region, such asQ-FAB inQatar,which is
also an experienced access rental company, is
seeing increased demand both in sales to end
users and in its own rental fleet.”
TheUAEhas its challenges,however, says
Mr Jakobsen. “Growth in theUAE is steady
asmore-and-morework is releasedhowever
due to increased competition and difficult
contractual issues on payment terms it is
increasingly difficult towin good business.”
Sharbel Kordahi, generalmanagerMiddle
East atTerexAWP agrees that booms and
big deck rough terrain scissors in the 85 to
125m category aremost prevalent,notably the
S-85,S-125,Z-80,Z135 boom lifts and the
GenieGS-5390 scissor lift.
Manufacturers seeking to sell truck
mounts into theMiddleEast are seeing stiff
competition from local producers.Gabriele
Valli, sales director with Italian truck
mountmanufacturer Isoli, says, “It is a very
competitivemarket due to the influence of
Turkish producers. In theMiddleEast, they
prefer telescopic platforms booms, and it is
this type of product that identifies the truck
mountmarket there - perhaps because local
producers onlymake this kind of boom.”
MrValli adds that truckmounts could see
good growth, but there is a lack of specialist
companies in the region concentrating on
truckmounts. “Rental companies do not have
them or, rather, they have very few.There is
still not thementality to hire truck-mounted
A 15m truckmount, manufactured by
Isoli, mounted on a Hino truck.
A Sinoboom GTZZ25 in the UAE.
