Northern Ireland is a recognised centre of excellence and innovation in the design and manufacture of materials handling equipment. It is home to one of the world’s most successful clusters of engineering companies developing state-of-the-art equipment and machinery for export globally.
In fact, Northern Ireland has been the main region for development of mobile solutions for crushing and screening of materials and bespoke equipment for various sectors including quarrying, mining and waste recycling and produces more than 40% of the world’s mobile crushing and screening equipment. This is precisely the reason buyers from the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region or even other parts of the world prefer to buy materials handling equipment from companies in Northern Ireland.
Machinery and transport equipment constitutes approximately 40% of total exports from Northern Ireland to the Middle East region. There is a steady flow of companies from Northern Ireland looking for opportunities in the region, and we continue to see growth and success for a number of companies across the MEA region.
The world’s top material handling equipment manufacturers such as Terex have several production facilities in Northern Ireland, the latest of which is the company’s £12m factory opened in 2019. During the last few years, North American manufacturers, particularly, have increased their investments in Northern Ireland, acquiring companies, creating jobs, and boosting production capacity for global exports.
Canada-based mobile crushing and screening equipment manufacturer McCloskey International, which has its European headquarters in Northern Ireland, has enabled Finland-based industrial machinery company Metso Corporation (Metso:Outotec) accelerate its growth in the mobile aggregate equipment market post McCloskey’s acquisition by Metso in 2019.
Machinery manufactured in Northern Ireland is sold to customers in over 100 countries with applications as diverse as iron ore mining in India, road construction in Peru, diamond exploration in South Africa and sand washing in the Arabian Gulf.
Kiverco, which designs, manufactures, and installs recycling plants for diverse sectors and waste streams, has been chosen by Averda to design, build and install a waste recycling plant that will help recycle all construction waste from The Red Sea Project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This follows Kiverco’s success in securing business in the UAE too.
Powerscreen, a name synonymous with high quality mobile crushers, screens and conveyors catering to the most diverse applications both on the material type and the production capacity, forayed into the Middle East market more than a decade ago. With over 350 machines sold to various customers through its strong dealer network providing high quality after-market support, Powerscreen is well poised to maintain and grow upon the legacy created so far.
Telestack, which designs, manufactures, installs and commissions mobile bulk material handling systems, recently installed a custom design shiploading system for Maersk at the Port of Salalah in Oman. Critical to the installation were mobility, dust containment and efficiency all major contributions as to why Telestack was selected to provide the customized shiploading solution.
Equipment manufacturers benefit from the large talent pool available to them with expertise in material handling machinery. Northern Ireland offers the right ecosystem to these manufacturers to thrive as they are well supported by comprehensive and competitive supply chains in close vicinity. Additionally, Northern Ireland offers advantage in terms of extremely competitive costs for setting up a new business or manufacturing unit.
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, the government has supported these manufacturers by way of providing COVID interruption loan schemes, corporate financing facilities, export finance support, business continuity and job retention schemes which were made available to large, medium and small businesses.
How to find the right suppliers in Northern Ireland
Get in touch with the nearest office of , the regional economic development agency for Northern Ireland. With its regional presence, acts as a bridge between machinery manufacturers in Northern Ireland and end users as well as equipment distributors in the region.
For more information, contact:
Amit Jain
Sector Lead – Engineering, Middle East
Invest Northern Ireland
M: +971 56 549 9866 | E: amit.jain@investni.com
