Forklift Trucks Market

Global forklift trucks market and the material handling industry will continue to grow quite strongly, showcasing sturdy economies particularly in North America and Europe. Numerous countries noted lift truck sales at all-time high levels particularly in Asia Pacific and Middle East region. The most noteworthy reflection from the sales data of 2015 is the evolution of electric lift trucks and the drop of internal combustion (IC) models. Electric forklift truck models in Class 1, 2 and 3 collectively grew by more than 8% over 2014, while internal combustion (IC) models in Class 4 and 5 declined globally by approximately 10% compared to 2014. Even more considerably, electric forklift trucks market share hurdled from 55% of the global industry in 2014 to currently making up more than 60% of the global orders.

Forklift trucks industry is also witnessing a string transformation within the industry amid of growing sales of forklift trucks. In past few years, forklift truck industry has witnessed many acquisitions as the market players are aggressively pursuing to capture greater market share. For instance, KION acquired Dematic and Toyota acquired systems integrators Bastian Solutions and Vanderlande Industries. Moreover, major market players are focusing their R&D activities towards automated solution and pouring huge capital investments into R&D. At the same time, the global forklift trucks industry is in the middle of vigorous growth, attaining all-time highs in 2016 as orders surpassed 1,182,000, up 7% from 2015. Moreover, forklift truck manufacturers are also escalating investments over R&D of electric warehouse forklifts and new energy forklifts in order to expand fuel efficiency of IC (Internal combustion) engines and to provide longer working time for electric forklifts. Implementation of telematics and intelligent truck systems empowered automation of complete material flow and upsurge the productivity of warehouse by providing acceleration in product handling and shipments.

Growing e-commerce business across the globe is one of the major factors for the recent boost in the growth of forklift trucks market. Many major forklift trucks industry players launched the range of automated forklift trucks which will be implemented in rising number of warehouses across the globe for automated logistic operations. With the amplified e-commerce business the demand for automated forklifts will increase significantly in coming years. For instance, Shipping and logistics provider DHL Express invested approximately USD 185.0 million in its U.S. operations between 2016 and 2017 in a struggle to meet constant business growth and rising e-commerce volume in the country.