With Gulf countries paying more attention to worksite conditions and the issue of sustainability, new demands are being created in the access equipment market.
Speaking with Construction Week, Sharbel Kordahi, managing director of Terex Equipment Middle East, said that the company has been seeing more interest for two of its Genie products.
He elaborated: “Throughout the region, the environment and improved worksite conditions are driving new demands. We are experiencing strong interest for our all-electric Z-60/37 DC boom and hybrid Z-60/37 FE lift.”
The latter, he noted, was awarded Rental Product of the Year for 2017 by the European Rental Association.
“Thanks to their innovative power source technologies, these environment-friendly models combine the benefits of economical and powerful 4WD capabilities with the advantages of clean, quiet, and low- or emission-free operation,” he said.
Terex, Kordahi continued, is seeing higher demand for protective products that focus on operator safety. Naming the Genie Lift Guard Contact Alarm and the Lift Guard Fall Arrest Bar as examples, he explained: “The contact alarm prevents operators from crushing and injuries caused by overhead obstacles.
“[Meanwhile], the fall arrest bar enables operators to safely work at height when required to step outside of the platform onto an adjacent structure by the means of a shock-absorbing lanyard.”
Kordahi, however, pointed out that while market interest in safety might be growing, there are still safety-related issues that the Gulf has to address.
He said: “Global rental companies are becoming more safety conscious, but in our regions we do not see stricter enforcement of safety laws.”
Other market challenges are “availability of good and affordable equipment financing, and the influx of used equipment with low quality maintenance from all over the world”, Kordahi added.
Read the rest of what Kordahi has to say about the access equipment market in the region in issue 662 of Construction Week, coming out on 15 July, 2017.
