ACE business manager Arun Bishnoi, seated, left, signs a contract for 25 tower cranes, while Chaucer P. L. Chen, general manager, Hunan Zoomlion International Trade Co, looks on to right. At top are Zhang Jianguo, Changsha Zoomlion executive president, second from left, and to right John Wan, general manager of Beijing Zoomlion Xinxing Construction Machinery Lease.

Although it has already begun short-term and small-scale ‘operational’ leasing, it is now beginning a much broader service. As reported in Cranes Today in January, Zoomlion’s leasing business, Beijing Zoomlion Xinxing Construction Machinery Lease Co Ltd, is claimed to be one of China’s first crane finance schemes. General manager John Wan expects that 30% of new Zoomlion cranes will be sold with some leasing support, particularly the larger (and more expensive) models. Wan said that under this scheme, the majority of the crane’s value would be leased.

Action Construction Equipment (ACE) has ordered 25 Zoomlion tower cranes. “We want more, but they can’t supply before two and a half months,” said ACE business manager Arun Bishnoi. The company is an exclusive Zoomlion dealer in India, and is now beginning to sell its concrete pumps. ABG Heavy Industries sells Zoomlion mobile cranes in India.

“We met three years ago at Bauma China, and have never looked back. We have had a wonderful response.” The company sold 35 tower cranes last year, and expects to sell 75 this year, mainly the TC 5013B.

“The next step is to provide the best after-sales service, and more support for agents and customers,” said Changsha Zoomlion executive president Zhang Jianguo.

Apart from ACE in India, Zoomlion’s tower crane division has non-exclusive relationships with dealers in South America, Russia, the Middle East, Africa and Australia. But Zoomlion president Jianguo says that ‘very soon’ it will make the decision to be exclusive. “We will choose the best performer to have more protection from us and more support.”

In August, Zoomlion is planning to open a new office in the Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone near Dubai to support all Zoomlion products in the Middle East. The company expects that exclusive GCC (Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf) truck crane distributor Avezaat will purchase $20m of cranes (100 units) this year.

The company plans for 40% of its sales to be export by 2010, but has only been selling internationally for three or four years.


ACE business manager Arun Bishnoi, seated, left, signs a contract for 25 tower cranes, while Chaucer P. L. Chen, general manager, Hunan Zoomlion International Trade Co, looks on to right. At top are Zhang Jianguo, Changsha Zoomlion executive president, sACE buys 25 cranes from Zoomlion