SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS However, there remain challenges within the industry, and he enjoys helping clients find the best solutions to these problems. “There are three main challenges for our port customers,” he says. “The first is the reliability of the equipment they are using. In the past they had their own workshops and the workforce skills to service and repair the machines themselves, from small forklifts to hydraulic material handling equipment. Today, they are more focused on their core business – and they also want foreseeable, fixed operational costs over the equipment’s lifetime. “The second challenge is shorter cargo
contracts. In the past they could win a contract lasting 20 or even 30 years. Today, they are much shorter, often only five years in length. So, our customers need much more flexibility in this marketplace. “The third challenge is simply a lack
of knowledge about what modern port equipment can achieve. In a port environment, a material handling machine is used for much longer than it is in other industries. A port might own and operate the same piece of equipment for 20 or 30 years, so they are not in that regular buying cycle of other industries. That means there is a lack of understanding of the available attachments and the overall material handling potential of today’s equipment. “We see it often in the tenders we
receive,” he says. “They are a copy and paste of the previous tender issued 20 years ago, so the specifications are out of date. We take the time to really discuss with the customer what is available, so they better understand the capabilities of modern equipment. “An obvious example is that you can do much more with semi- or fully automatic machines today – 20 years ago the same task would have required more people. Today, because you have a higher material flow rate, you still need people, but they are more likely to be forklift drivers. The difference is that those people are no longer working in dangerous areas manually handling the cargo. They are safer and more productive.”
PARTNERSHIP APPROACH The human element is also important, with Sennebogen valuing co-operation and a focus on building partnerships. “When I started in the company in 2001 we had an ongoing partnership with CAT,” he says. “In one of our factories we produced under
license all their wheeled excavators for the European market. This partnership ended in 2004 but was a big success for both parties. Even today we still have co-operation with other manufacturers and, of course, with our distributors.”
While Sennebogen no longer produces wheeled diggers for CAT, it still seeks out opportunities to provide products for other manufacturers. In March, the company announced an agreement to supply Linde with two telehandler models. Linde will sell them under its own brand in Germany and Austria, with the potential for more countries to follow. Sennebogen also builds some machines for ABI and crawler cranes for Manitowoc. “We have always focused on our
core skills, which are designing and manufacturing great machines,” he adds. “So, we have always looked for distribution partners to sell our products. For Sennebogen, it was also always important to serve a broad base of industries, including ports, scrap and asset recycling, and the timber industry. This has made us a very stable company because there is always one strong industry when another is not doing so well.”
INDUSTRY RESILIENCE Overall, Aumüller feels the industry can weather geopolitical storms. “Luckily, the chaos that can manifest in politics is not always directly transferred to the economy,” he says. “Typically, the economy reacts much more slowly to political uncertainty.
And no matter what is happening, the goods and materials must still flow. “From the data we are seeing, there is no
downturn in material flow rates – all that occurs is the material gets redirected a little bit. For example, when the Ukraine conflict began, of course far less cargo was going out from the seaports, but those material streams were simply redirected – so there was a lot more transported by train, by truck and by river port. The cargo always finds a way. “In general, we see that volume rates
are good. Perhaps the market is softer in Europe, but it is stronger in the Middle East and Asia, so it all balances out. We had a similar experience with the sanctions on Russia. We had orders from Russian customers, but we were able to easily sell those machines into markets with strong demand.”
POSITIVE OUTLOOK For these reasons, Aumüller retains a positive outlook for the sector. “From my perspective, I cannot see any slowdown in our ports business,” he says. “Customers order the larger machines up to 1.5 years in advance, so for 2025 we know to about 95% how it will turn out and it will be a good year. “Beyond that, the order book is strong.
Our customers are often buying to replace machines that are 25 or 30 years old. They really need these machines, so a little political turbulence will not make them hesitate.”
Dockside Lift & Move Supplement | April 2025 | xiii
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