Wide range of forklifts caters for bustling rental market

Serving mining, petro-chemicals and construction industries
THERE IS a bustling market in SA for leased and rented forklifts – with the availability of back-up or replacement units essential in industry sectors like mining, petro-chemicals and construction, where movement of heavy goods is a vital part of everyday activities According to Kevin Bailey, MD of Avis Rent-a-Forklift, a major in the supply market, it has clients in all sectors – and spread over the whole of SA and in Swaziland, Lesotho and Namibia. To meet this market need, the company has to have a large and versatile range of units – from the small, basic units to the mighty heavy-lift equipment, he said. On the casual, short-term side of the business, Avis has a full range of 400 forklift units available for lease - ranging from 2.5-tons to 15-tons. On the long-term side it leases and rents petrol, gas and electric forklifts at more economic rates. Some indication of the variety of units needed to satisfy market demand lies in the wide difference in prices between standard, basic forklifts and the giants in the range. According to Bailey, leasing costs range from R2 750 a month for a small machine to R220 000 to R300 000 a month for a 36-ton container-lifter. But, justifying the cost at the top-end of the range, his figures show that one of the large container-lifters is reckoned to earn between R10 000 and R12 000 a day. Probably one of the most versatile units his company has for lease, he told FTW, is a 7.5-ton ‘telescopic handler’ - used for lifting and moving materials in construction and on the mines.