The Worldwide Powered Entry Federation (IPAF) printed its 2025 Rental Market Experiences, that includes skilled perception into the cellular elevated work platform (MEWP) rental markets throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
In 2024, the North American MEWP rental market skilled a notable shift, as its high-growth cycle ended, in line with the newest evaluation performed for IPAF by Ducker Carlisle.
Confronted with mounting value pressures, a slowdown in building funding amid excessive rates of interest, and common uncertainty, most key indicators didn’t register progress. Income elevated by simply 1 % year-on-year to $15.2 billion, signalling a plateau following three years of speedy growth. A subdued last quarter, coupled with excessive rates of interest, rising materials prices, and broader financial uncertainty, weighed closely in the marketplace.
Fleet progress halted, with the overall MEWP fleet holding regular at round 857,000 models — marking the primary yr with out web growth. Projections counsel the fleet will keep close to this stage for the foreseeable future, with a marginal enhance of round 500 models anticipated in 2025. Utilization declined to 71 %, returning to extra typical ranges after the overheated circumstances of 2023.
Rental charges rose by only one %, and corporations prioritized utilization and money movement over worth will increase. Funding additionally dropped considerably, falling from 13 % progress in 2023 to only 5% in 2024, with corporations shifting towards fleet renewal and extra cautious planning. Because the market enters a correction section, solely modest rental charge progress and restricted fleet growth are forecast over the following two years.
Cross rent exercise decreased additional in 2024, with present ranges notably low. Whereas the general want for cross rent has declined in some areas following years of fleet growth, it stays a constant function of the US market. A number of firms function with a devoted re-rental mannequin, supplying gear for long-term initiatives, specialised high-cost MEWPs with restricted native demand, or to assist rental corporations with constrained financing.
By means of comparability, the European fleet stood at a complete of roughly 365,000 models on the finish of 2024. In 2024, rental firms lowered buying exercise amid shorter lead
instances, market saturation in bigger international locations, and uncertainty within the building sector. France’s fleet remained flat, the UK’s contracted by 2 %, whereas progress in Italy and the Netherlands additionally slowed.
Euan Youdale, Editor of Entry Worldwide journal, writes in his skilled commentary:
Whereas progress is anticipated to proceed within the USA rental market, it’s slowing. So says the American Rental Affiliation (ARA) in its up to date forecast, launched in Could. Though there shall be optimistic progress in 2025, it is going to be tempered by uncertainty on account of potential adjustments in authorities coverage beneath President Donald Trump’s administration, together with tariffs.
“[The rental sector] is optimistic and we don’t have any form of a increase bust situation, however there’s a whole lot of uncertainty on the market which is triggering a whole lot of wait and see,” mentioned Scott Hazelton, Managing Director at S&P International, which gives forecasts for the ARA.
That mentioned, common rental is about to do higher than different sectors, Hazelton feedback, “Rental companies thrive in uncertainty, as a result of should you’re a contractor and also you get a job, and also you want a machine for that job, do you actually wish to spend the cash proper now for a five- or six-year funding that you just’re unsure you’re going to wish in two years?”
A report from Off-Freeway Analysis into the development sector helps this. Gear gross sales in North America had been down 5 % final yr, though it was a shallower decline than was beforehand anticipated. The report discovered that after three consecutive years of file excessive gross sales from 2021 to 2023.
“This yr’s anticipated 11 % decline in gross sales displays not solely the on-going return to regular gross sales volumes, but in addition the injury to enterprise confidence being performed by the Trump administration’s inflationary import tariffs and the unpredictability of its coverage making,” added the report.
With continued uncertainty round President Donald Trump’s tariffs, some producers have vowed to broaden manufacturing within the USA to keep away from potential future rises. In April, UK-based OEM JCB mentioned that it’ll double the dimensions of a brand new 500,000-square-feet issue manufacturing facility presently beneath building in Texas to at least one million sq. toes.
Chinese language producers are additionally taking a look at choices to keep away from the tariffs, together with these imposed particularly on MEWPs imported from China by the US authorities’s Worldwide Commerce Committee (ITC) in 2023.
One instance got here with Dingli’s acquisition of US distributor MEC in 2023, after having a minority possession of the producer, earlier to that. Now, Zoomlion Entry, which already has a manufacturing facility in Mexico, is contemplating a brand new plant within the USA or shopping for an current MEWP producer there. Basic supervisor Ren Huili, mentioned, “We at all times needed a manufacturing facility within the USA. We are actually speaking with manufacturing amenities to purchase anyd current manufacturers which we might purchase.”
Even in a extremely aggressive MEWP atmosphere, there are new entrants to the sector. China-based Infore Environmental Expertise, finest identified for being China’s largest producer of rubbish vehicles and associated merchandise, has turned its consideration to entry, with the acquisition of a serious producer within the US being a critical consideration, the corporate advised Entry Briefing.
These OEMs already based mostly within the USA are seeing the good thing about native manufacturing. John Pfeifer, president of JLG’s father or mother firm Oshkosh mentioned, “Almost all of what we promote in the USA is in-built the USA…which we consider places us in a robust aggressive place in our industries.”
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However, OEMs headquartered within the USA like JLG and Genie reported declines of their newest monetary outcomes. JLG’s first quarter 2025 gross sales fell 22.7 % to $957.1 million, in comparison with the identical interval in 2024.
Peter Douglas, CEO and Managing Director of IPAF, mentioned:
The indications, developments, and forecasts featured in these studies supply important insights for anybody working within the powered entry market – not solely rental firms, but in addition gear producers, suppliers, and traders. They supply the information wanted to make knowledgeable choices on funding planning, strategic progress, and general enterprise route. Do not miss this chance to entry the newest market intelligence within the powered entry trade.
For detailed evaluation of the North American, European and Asian markets, the 2025 IPAF Rental Market Experiences can be found now.
IPAF producer, provider, distributor and rental firm members can apply for a free copy of the related report by filling within the type at www.ipaf.org/studies; non-members are capable of buy the report.
