Southern Europe as far as geography is concerned stretches approximately 4,000km from Spain along the length of the Mediterranean to Greece and the Balkans. The market for hoists can be expected to vary accordingly.

There are of course some constants, though, of which the pandemic is the largest and most glaring.

If we start at the western end of the continent, Spain has crane and hoist manufacturers Jaso, and also Elebia, the world-renowned makers of specialist below-the hook equipment.

“Every country has its own particularities, but generally speaking the pattern is almost the same everywhere, and this includes Northern as well as Southern Europe,” says Esteve Fornells, marketing manager, Elebia. “COVID-19 has hit Europe fiercely:

“The market in France, Italy and Spain has certainly been greatly impacted by the pandemic,” he says. “Many companies in different sectors and industries have suffered prolonged lockdowns, which have affected not only sales but also workers and the workforce in general with layoffs, furloughs and temporary employment regulations. The lifting industry has also been greatly affected by this pandemic. On a more positive note, we can say that most projects have been temporarily frozen rather than abandoned. General feedback from clients and customers is that investments are on hold until the pandemic is under control and general conditions return to a “new normal”. There is still plenty of uncertainty, and we cannot yet talk about signs of recovery.”

And the ‘new normal’ will be different from the old: “This prolonged situation has forced many companies not only in Southern Europe, but worldwide, to reinvent themselves and to ‘think out of the box’,” he says. “Their approach to their day-to-day activity will change.

“But, there is still plenty of pentup demand for lifting equipment as industries will start to pick up where they left off. All economies are keen on moving forward; pending projects will be put into motion once again, new projects will arise and the economy will slowly get in motion once more as the world needs to keep on turning.” No cause then for despair: “The outlook in general is positive,” he says.

And, despite the pandemic, Elebia was able to bring new products to the market last year. “In 2020 we introduced the S40 Automatic Shackle. This product has widened our reach in the lifting industry.

We have received many enquiries in the past regarding the subsea sector and specifically designed products for load dropping. We think now is the right time to offer these products as we clearly see an important increase and demand of these solutions for a variety of applications. We have new hardware/software applications like the IOH, Internet of Hooks, where the hooks can be configured, set-up and monitored remotely. We are also working on developing a spreader beam with retractable slings to facilitate the attachment and release of C6 lifting clamps when the application is for pipe handling/lifting. So, there are plenty of new developments for 2021.”

Jaso is similarly upbeat about prospects. “In general the countries in the south of Europe are recovering well,” says Antonio Naranjo, their sales and marketing manager. “For standard lifting equipment the market has been improving: it is better now than it was in the summer of 2020, which is understandable given the worldwide situation. At JASO we have been noticing that the steel sector and the wind energy sector are performing better year by year even with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our intentions for 2021 are to increase our presence in the southern European countries. We are geographically close to them, which gives us an advantage, and JASO Industrial has launched several new products and we want to promote them. One that is new is transfer carts (AGVs, or automated guided vehicles); we see great possibilities for this product, especially in the wind energy sector for handling the windmill blades. As I mentioned, the sector is increasing year by year and we see great possibilities for this product.”

Greece

Moving eastwards, Gerasimos Koutsouvelis is the country director for Konecranes Greece. “Following the long downturn sparked by the financial crisis of 2007-2008, the Greek lifting market started to grow again by the latter half of the last decade,” he says; “It was showing healthy development especially in 2019 and early 2020. The coronavirus pandemic hit the country hard, especially its critical tourism industry, and this had knock-on effects throughout the broader economy. But the country has continued its investments in industry and digitalization. As a result, 2020 saw an increase in GDP in the industrial sector and supporting lifting business sector.

“Moving into 2021, there are a number of promising-looking sectors for Konecranes: aluminium, shipyards (both in new ships and repairs), the mining and marble industries, energy, and general manufacturing are all hopeful. Konecranes Greece also supports Albania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Cyprus, and in these countries Waste-to-Energy and energy show potential.

In 2018, Konecranes won a project for explosion-proof cranes from the Trans- Adriatic pipeline, which operates a natural gas transportation infrastructure from the Greek border with Turkey to Southern Italy; In 2019 we delivered three large cranes – the largest was 170t – to Elval for operation and installation of their four-stand tandem aluminium hot finishing mill.

“Greece is riding a wave of increasing optimism,” he says. “Business expectations and consumer confidence are up, and investment growth is expected to improve productivity and competitiveness. From January this year steps have been taken to reduce corporate and personal taxation.

“At the same time, there have been efforts to reduce bureaucracy and simplify licensing, and to facilitate largescale investments. The biggest wager is whether the current pandemic-hit economic climate, people’s perceptions and new legislation can be transformed into an investment wave on all fronts.

“In addition, accelerating the digital strategy and overhauling public administration structures are crucial for Greece’s first wave adaptation to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

Another major Greek manufacturer is light hoist maker Niko, which has a presence in the US and Europe as well as its home country. “We recently completed the development of our new range of aluminium cranes for loads up to 500kg and 7 metre bridge length, to cover the demand for lighter crane profiles,” says marketing manager Maria Forti. “Four aluminium profiles are available – in both plain and reinforced variants – along with support brackets, end carriages and joints, so a complete aluminium crane can be provided.

“We have been providing certified fall arrest systems since 1998, and this year we managed to enrich the range with new products. An example is the new NIKO workstation bridge crane with reinforced tracks. It is certified by TUV Austria and it allows multiple users to cover a wider working area while protecting them in case of a fall.

“We also have customers who work with construction materials – glass industries, steel bars and the like – in Albania and Kosovo. I would say that Kosovo is at its peak in that field. Exports of Greek marble are going well but construction in Greece has been contracting since 2009. Just to mention that 15 years ago we used to construct around 20 five- or six-tonne gantry cranes per year for companies that merchandise steel bars. In 2019, we only constructed three such cranes and we bought six used gantry cranes from bankrupted companies of the same sector. Inside Greece we sell cranes from 3.2t to 32t capacity. Outside Greece we sell only cranes of 10t capacity and higher. Abroad, the cost of transporting and installing a small crane absorbs the price saving over a new small crane, so it is not economic to export smaller ones.

“In small capacity cranes under 3.2t the price difference over a new one of same technical specs and brand name could be 30%. In high-capacity cranes, of say 50t, the saving could be around 70% of the price.

“Around 60% of our sales is outside Greece. We have sold cranes to Albania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Romania, Georgia, the Middle East, India, Bangladesh and spare parts in more than 60 countries. A large project that was delivered at the end of 2020 was a reconstructed 80/5t gantry delivered in Albania.

“We buy our used cranes mainly from Germany and from Greece. We tend to combine the girders of the Greek cranes with the equipment from German ones to construct the crane the customer requires. We modernise the cranes to new standards, adding limit switches, thermal protection on the motors and so on, but there is little demand for full digital controls.”

It would seem, then, that the crane market throughout Southern Europe is far from stagnating. Post-pandemic, people everywhere seem to be looking for growth.

The market for hoists and factory cranes in Southern Europe is by no means as dire as some