the short term rental market for forklift trucks | France

1.1 Presentation

The forklift market in France covers a set of machines  -often self-propelled - designed for lifting and transferring loads in factories and warehouses . This market is in fact one of the segments of the handling equipment market, mainly used in intralogistics and construction. Highly dependent on the economic situation, this market in France has experienced numerous shocks over the past two decades . Faced with declining sales in the 1990s, the major forklift manufacturers converted to rental . This trend continues today, with the development of new networks by the historical manufacturers. The growth drivers now seem to be on the side of automation of intralogistics -as evidenced by the many alliances between forklift manufacturers and robotics players- and electrical machines to the new French regulations.

Short-term rental should be understood as a period of time ranging from from one day to 12 months in general, but rental periods are flexible . The major manufacturers are therefore logically moving into short-term rental, in a market that already has major players such as Aprolis . Thus, Jungheinrich or Still also offer forklift rentals . The short-term rental service includes not only the rapid delivery of the rented equipment, but also the necessary technical and commercial support

Forklift rental is an extremely dynamic professional market. About It is estimated that 35,000 pieces of equipment of this type are rented in France every year and the market is held by about 35 companies ranging from small SMEs to global giants such as Nissan or Toyota. The market is relatively stable even though no overall statistics are available. The major groups are buzzing with mergers and acquisitions and partnerships, proof that the market is attracting interest 70 to 80% of new forklifts in France are in fact leased in the form of a long-term lease with a maintenance contract.  

The main markets for forklift trucks are industry, logistics, food processing and automotive Handling equipment refers to all machines and logistical tools used for the transport or support of loads requiring physical effort. Consequently, the market for the rental of handling equipment covers all services for the rental of forklift trucks, hand trucks, pallet trucks, etc