REGIONAL REPORTAUSTRIA & SWITZERLAND
Senn recently move a 140-tonne stone thought to be over 11 million years old.
but not as many as some of our competitors.” An interesting snapshot of the market
came from Senn, based in Oftringen, Switzerland, which provides crane and transport services and also specialises in steel construction and metalwork. Jörg Senn, managing director, said: “2016
was quite busy – we have had a lot of work to do, although the price situation dropped again dramatically.”
Slowdown However, in the final weeks of the year, he said, there was a distinct slowdown. “We are having to dismantle tower cranes and construction cranes and put them in storage in the yard, where we would normally expect to move them directly to another site and build them up again. This is an indication of the market. “On the other hand, we are looking at a very good situation in our steel construction and metalworks departments for 2017. We are quite well booked. In Switzerland it is very interesting – people are coming here and building factories. Then there are several infrastructure jobs ongoing in Switzerland that require heavy lifting – for example, steel bridges being built onsite and put in place by our crawler cranes. In Austria, Franco Ravazzolo, head of
project logistics and breakbulk at international 90
January/February 2017
transport and logistics provider Gebrüder Weiss, said: “This year we were very lucky and had a very good year, but that was because we fixed some big projects in West Africa, which kept us busy most of the year. It was a mixture of luck and skills, and very early contracts. However, overall the situation is not that good. We have to work even more to keep afloat – it is the same for everybody. “The market is under pressure and the
economy in Austria is going very slowly. We are far behind the base of 2015, so still far away from a recovery – it will take a couple of years. “2017 we know already will be a tough
one and we will have to fight – but we already have some business in, so we are optimistic to reach at least a positive result, and that is all we can hope for. Many others seem to be closing down or cutting their project teams – we were able to increase our
2017 we know already will be a tough year and we will have to fight – but we already have some business in, so we are optimistic to reach at least a positive result. – Franco Ravazzolo, Gebrüder Weiss
staff this year, so we are happy with that.” Operators in both Austria and Switzerland
pointed to the impact of globalisation, which means that manufacturers’ project teams in those countries are more important for know-how and decision-making than actual physical moves.
World trade “We are mainly dealing with exports right now – but while the origin control is in Austria, it is not always produced in Austria,” said Ravazzolo. “We pick up cargo all over the world for our Austrian clients. “For example, we did four cement mills
to West Africa – Ghana, Mali, Mauritania and Chad. These projects involved heavy units up to 200 tonnes each and 2,600 containers coming from everywhere – Austria, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Vietnam and Poland. “It is the consequence of globalisation
– cargo is produced everywhere and a lot of companies just retain know-how and planning, while production is overseas where it is cheaper. We have to be in Austria to be close to the planners. But our job is extremely international, more than ever, and we have to rely on a very broad and wide network of partners,” Ravazzolo explained. Ravazzolo said the company’s main
business in Austria was focused on heavy industrial machinery, including generators,
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