The company will have CE-marked its 50 US ton capacity 5002S boom truck as a 45 metric-tonne model by September, and will also have its 40 US ton capacity 4002S boom truck CE-marked by the end of the year.
Although the company sells parts to Verschoor of the Netherlands, it has not finalised its plans for selling the cranes in Europe, general manager Scott Rolston told Cranes Today.
“We want to be recognised as a global company, and not so dependent on the North American market, and better able to compete with our larger competitors,” he said.
The company has two dealers in South America, Maquinaria UCHA in Mexico and Hiab Chile.
It has signed a deal with Dubai-based crane dealer and rental company Santos Trading, which is Manitex’s first Middle East distributor, marketing manager Sarmad Al-Zadjaly told Cranes Today. He said that boom trucks are not well-known in the Gulf region, although there are some models from UNIC in Japan, and some truck loader cranes as well. But he said that he expects good demand for the 45t machine, with its 30m boom.
Manitex has also signed a deal with Dostavka-Service Corp. Ltd. to distribute its 50t and 60t boom trucks in Russia. Manitex general manager Scott Rolston said that Russia was a better boom truck market that the USA. “This market is growing at a double-digit rate while the North American market continues to lag. Upon Russian crane certification, which is expected in June, we expect initial deliveries of Manitex S-series 3002, 4002, 5002 (30 to 50 ton) as early as July 2008.”
The company added that the Russian market has demand not only for infrastructure at the moment, but also natural resources extraction industries.
