ACCESS toplists

access toplists
Movers
and shakers
ALH has combined its top
20 aerials, telehandler
and scaffold lists to
provide a comprehensive
look at the 2010 market.
How will 2011 shape up?
Only time will tell.
2 Access, Lift & Handlers access toplists 2010
F
or most rental companies, 2010 was not a
year of significant growth and if two words
could summarize how companies feel
about 2011, they would be “cautiously optimistic.”
North American rental houses have been
weathering one of the worst economic downturns
in history, and despite most major players
posting financial gains in the third and fourth
quarters of 2010, companies remain guarded.
However, the market seems to have settled
into a truce with the prevailing conditions. The
immediate pain of dramatic cuts in production,
workforce and rental fleets has started to fade
and, as yet, there have been surprisingly few
company failures and consolidations.
Recently, rental consultant Dan Kaplan gave
an upbeat presentation on the North American
rental market at the AEM conference in San
Antonio, TX in late 2010. There seems to be a
general mood of improved positivity, even if
there are still problems getting finance for
equipment, and orders are very slowly starting
to return.
Kaplan said some of the biggest US renters
would considerably increase their capital
investments in 2011, forecasting spending of
$500 million at United Rentals, $400 million
at RSC Equipment Rentals and $475 million
at Hertz equipment Rental Co (HERC). That is
considerably more than the three companies
invested in 2010.
He said that aging fleets and increasing
utilization rates - the result of fleet reductions
over the past two years and demand creeping
back up - would trigger increases in spending.
Meanwhile, with quiet order books many
manufacturers have taken the opportunity to
take stock of their whole offering and found
that, in many cases, the drive to get equipment
out the door and fulfill large order backlogs
allowed some service and support issues to be
overlooked. These issues are being addressed in
many areas with improvements in parts supply,
service and aftersales support, which should
be able to be maintained when machine orders
increase again.
Some manufacturers have chosen to maintain
all their production facilities, albeit with reduced
workforce and working hours, others have closed
plants. Although everyone is keen for order
books to start filling up, there is concern that in
the event of sudden and dramatic increases the
biggest challenges will be to train or retrain the
returning workforce and the ability of external
suppliers to respond. However, since the outlook is for steady and
gradual growth beginning in 2011 and rising
through 2012 and 2013, these problems are
unlikely to arise.
Worldwide markets
At the AEM event, Kaplan presented a video
interview with United Rentals CEO, Michael
Kneeland – prepared for the AEM event – in which
Kneeland said that equipment owners who were
having difficulty in raising funds to purchase
machines would turn to rental. There will be
“a paradigm shift from ownership to rental,”
he said.
However, the rental sector operating
primarily in construction has been hit hard: in
some areas the desire to increase utilization
access toplists
tWebsite
Phone
www.ur.com 800-877-3687
www.rscnrental.com
800-222-7777
www.sunbeltrentals.com
800-667-9328
www.hertzequip.com
888-777-2700
www.ahern.com
800-400-1610
www.nesrentals.com
900-637-7368
www.he-equipment.com
877-410-4242
www.sunstateequip.com
888-399-4826
www.briggsequipment.com
214-630-0808
www.venetor.com
888-664-5007
www.starrentals.com
800-825-7880
www.allcrane.com
216-986-5190
www.simplex.ca/en
800-361-1486
www.tricolift.com
800-468-7426
www.neffrental.com
888-709-6333
www.midwestaerials.com
314-588-1300
New Jersey-headquartered Trico Lift continues to
expand its fleet and presence; the company just
recently opened a new depot in Texas.
This increase in fleet means that Venetor rises
six places in the list from 16th to 10th. Besides
Venetor, though, only three other companies
in the A20 reported any growth; Sunstate
Equipment in Arizona reports fleet numbers up
by 6 percent; New Jersey-based Trico Lift went
up 3 percent, and Florida’s HR2 (High Reach II)
increased its fleet by 4.1 percent. Everyone else
has remained flat or scaled down their fleets.
It is unlikely a huge change will occur in 2011,
with the focus very much on fleet replacement
rather than expansion.
Aerial OEMs expect sales to grow moderately
because aging rental fleets will be refreshed, but
2011 is unlikely to see an explosion of growth.
Michael Kneeland, chief executive officer of
United Rentals, says he expects a choppy recovery
but he has witnessed early stages of an upturn.
In its second quarter results UR’s same-store
rental revenues increased 2.7 percent and time
utilization increased 4.1 percent with contractors
opting to rent equipment instead of buy.
The list captures the North American aerials
market in a trough, at least in terms of fleet sizes.
It will be some years before we get back to the
fleet sizes of 2007 and 2008.
n
The Survey
www.eqdepot.com
800-835-2128
www.admarsupply.com
800-836-2367
Research for ALH’s Aerials20 was carried
out during the summer of 2010. Where
companies were unwilling to provide data, we
made our own estimates based on company
financial reports and advice from industry
contacts.
www.hr2fl.com
800-860-1648
Feedback
www.moderngroup.com
800-866-3376
If you think you should be included in
next year’s Aerials20 (A20) listing,
please contact ALH Editor Lindsey Anderson
at lindsey.anderson@khl.com or call at
(312) 795-5611.
access toplists 2010 Access, Lift & Handlers 7
access toplists
Marr Scaffolding Co.
Brand Scaffolding
Near misses
The following companies did not make our
top 20, but are significant scaffold players
in North America.
The Survey
Research for the Scaffold20 was
conducted during the spring of 2010.
Where companies were unwilling to provide
data, we made our own estimates based on
advice from annual reports and industry
contacts. We thank those companies and
individuals who provided information.
If you would like to be included in next
year’s Scaffold20, please contact
editor Lindsey Anderson at lindsey.
anderson@khl.com or by calling
312-795-5611.
14 Access, Lift & Handlers access toplists 2010
US-based Harsco Infrastructure is one of
the world’s biggest scaffolding companies,
previously operating under brands including
Patent, SGB and Hunnebeck. Between 80 and 85
percent of the Infrastructure business is outside
of the US, and the $230 million figure is based on
a 20 percent share of the Harsco Infrastructure
business in 2009.
The list provides some indication of the
degree of consolidation of the North American
scaffolding sector, with the top 20 companies
having an estimated $2.6 billion worth of
revenues, which represents around 46 percent
of the total market. Our top five companies
represent an estimated 41 percent of the market.
Despite that degree of consolidation it is
clear that the scaffold market remains highly
fragmented – as reflected in the fact that our
20th company on the list, Gadsden Scaffold in
Alabama, is a $3 million business.
Sky-Rider Equipment
Columbia Industrial
STVA
R&R Scaffold Erectors
Swing-Lo Suspended Scaffold
Seacoast Scaffold & Equipment
East Coast Rigging & Contracting
New England Scaffold
Starting point
As we said at the start – this first listing is a
starting point. In the coming years we will be
able to refine and expand the list, and also
make comparisons with previous year’s surveys.
We welcome any suggestions, comments
or corrections and look forward to the 2011
survey. n