It claimed to attract 80,000 visitors and 300 exhibitors – up from 274 the previous year – from 25 countries to last year’s show, but visitor numbers were actually well down (some said by as many as half).

Hangzhou Zheqi Cranes Co., Ltd. import and export manager Jacy Chen, for example, highlighted the lack of traffic at the 2006 event.

The added problem this year is that less than two months later another booming market is opening the door to foreigners with CeMAT India taking place at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre from 4-7 December.

Hannover Fairs Shanghai Ltd. claim that over 500 companies from 19 countries will exhibit in two separate halls this year, “occupying a record-high display area” of over 23,000 sq m.

But can the Chinese show compete?

German manufacturer JD Neuhaus and remote firm Itowa, from Spain, have opted to stay away from China and will instead exhibit in India. Itowa saw enough last time around and believes staging a CeMAT Asia show every year is certainly too much. In fact, many of those housed in the Spanish pavilion last year will not return to China, but instead exhibit in India.

Manufacturing giant Demag won’t exhibit either. Demag Cranes & Components (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. managing director Thomas Nothdurf, who took over from predecessor Thomas Dorn in April, ruled out his fim’s involvement.

Even Liqun Xiao, the secretary general of the Material Handling Council of China (MHCC), agrees that the show is held too often.

He says there are around 20 small domestic exhibitions related to material handling and logistics staged across China every year. In order to stand out from these, CeMAT Asia must be seen as a truly international show but this illustrious status is a long way off.

Xiao concludes: “Any rapidly increasing material handling market needs a main trade fair, like ProMAT in North America and CeMAT in Europe. We are still waiting.”

Japanese manufacturer Elephant Chain Block Co., Ltd. exhibited for the first time outside its homeland at CeMAT Asia 2006, and will return this year, despite agreeing that staging the event every year is too often. “Once in a year seems a little bit many – once every couple of years would be suitable,” it said. However, “the Chinese market is still growing,” it added and says it could possible double again in size over the next five years.

Taiwan-based Yoke Industrial Corp. agrees, saying a biannual arrangement would be better. However, it will still take the opportunity to present its new hoist ring, “providing dependable lifting and lashing means for ease of use when lifting heavy loads of different materials and shapes,” it says.

Due to its ball bearing construction, Yoke hoist rings rotate freely through 360 degrees and are available for loads from 4-40t with a designed safety factor of 5:1.

The rings have been proof tested to 2.5 times working load limit. Yoke adds that units are “easy to Install (need only one tap hole) and are available in bushing and ball bearing.”

Additional features include:

• ï„·100% magnaflux crack detection

• ï„·drop forged suspension ring

• ï„·20,000 cycle fatigue rated to 1.5 times working load limit

• ï„·rings are stamped with batch code for easy traceability

• ï„·multi-directional Loading

• ï„·self aligns in direction of load

• ï„·no friction transfer to the bolt as it turns, “which equals a longer life”

• ï„·the bolt comes with a finish for increased corrosion protection

• ï„·units are available in metric or UNC thread

Stahl (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., meanwhile, will show a range of wheel blocks, inverter controls, explosion-proof wire rope and chain hoists and a dual hook chain hoist.

Victor Low, general manager, says it would be a missed opportunity not to be at the show with at least 10% growth being witnessed every year in the Chinese hoist market.

He adds that with Asia being one of the “hotspots of our industry,” an annual event is justified. “However,” he continued, “depending on workload and availability of resources (mainly man-power) we will decide year by year whether we participate with a booth of our own or not. We did in 2005, but skipped the 2006 exhibition and will be back again this year.”

Sales director Werner Wagner from the headquarters in Germany will join Low on the stand to support the local team. The firm hopes to generate new contacts with crane builders and engineering companies. “Being the worldwide market leader in explosion-protected crane technology, we also hope to get wider access to this highly specialised market segment in China,” it added.

Stahl CraneSystems says the lower end of the market is still dominated by domestic products, “but we think that there is still a lot of room for growth with high-end technology.” This is the case with wire rope hoists over 10t capacity, it says, engineered solutions and explosion protected crane equipment.

It concluded: “Marketing opportunities are also excellent for chain hoists. Our chain hoists are very popular in the automotive sector in Europe and we will certainly target this growing industry in China.”

Karl-Heinz Günther, director of sales at HBC-radiomatic, says: “CeMAT Asia is the biggest event of its kind in China. It has become a major and professional platform in Asia. Speed of innovation is enormous within intralogistics so there is quite enough to be presented at an annual tradeshow.”

HBC-radiomatic will present a “completely renovated” product range for the industrial market place. For example, its new transmitters, technos and spectrum 1D offer the operator feedback on the weight of the load. Furthermore, it will show new handheld transmitters, such as micron 6 (shown last year) offering feedback of weight and a completely renovated version of the transmitter micron 4 with up to 10 push buttons. New receivers will also be shown, as well as some additional new features and options to be unveiled on the stand.

Sure, there’s no doubt the show will also attract exhibitors from the local market with the expense and logistics much less of an issue than it is for a firm making the trip from Europe.

Dennis Wong, the director of China-based Vitali International Lifting Equipment Ltd., for example, says he did not hesitate to book exhibition space. The exhibition grounds are “about 180km from our factory and at only US$1,000, the cost is relatively cheap,” he says.

Vitali will use the show to exhibit a range of chain and lever hoists, including its so-called Kit-V Type lever hoist. The model is available in 1 and 2.5t units. “The unit is lightweight and compact and the patented friction disc design means no brake discs are required,” says Wong.

The unit includes a grade 100 galvanized load chain. Each chain block is operationally tested at 1.5 times rated capacity. The hand wheel and knob design means no preload is required. Also on show will be the Yal Type lever hoist – available in 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75t capacity.

TBM Lifting & Chain, Zhejiang Shuangniao Machinery Co. Ltd. will exhibit its range of electric and manual chain hoists and wire rope hoists, including a variety of new products which it will unveil at the show.

Dutch mobile power feed system manufacturer Akapp-Stemmann BV, will exhibit from its click-ductor range, an enclosed conductorbar with jointed copper, and will also show a new open conductor for up to 10 poles, called the pro-ductor. However, it agrees that staging the event once a year is over-kill, says Han van Schaijk, director, sales and marketing.

Remote firm Tele Radio will exhibit its new T70
system, which is specially design for the Chinese and American markets. “The T70 will be used for hoist applications with competitive price and efficient functionity,” it said. It also told Hoist that other new products would appear on the stand.

“In the past year, we have set up long-term business relationships with many Chinese customers and sales are improving all the time,” says Bill Sun, managing director, Tele Radio Asia (HK) Co. Ltd.


Stahl CraneSystems says the lower end of the market is still dominated by domestic products, ‘but we think that there is still a lot of room for growth with high-end technology’ it says CEMAT 18 Stahl CraneSystems (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. will show a range of wheel blocks, inverter controls, explosion-proof wire rope and chain hoists and a dual hook chain hoist CEMAT 17 Due to its ball bearing construction, Yoke hoist rings rotate freely through 360 degrees and are available for loads from 4-40t with a designed safety factor of 5:1 CEMAT 16 TBM Lifting & Chain, Zhejiang Shuangniao Machinery Co. Ltd. will exhibit its range of electric and manual chain hoists and wire rope hoists, including a variety of new products which it will unveil at the show CEMAT 15 Taiwan-based Yoke Industrial Corp. will present its new hoist ring, ‘providing dependable lifting and lashing means for ease of use when lifting heavy loads of different materials and shapes,’ it says CEMAT 14 How busy will the aisles be this year? CEMAT 13 Liqun Xiao, the secretary general of the Material Handling Council of China (MHCC) CEMAT 12 The show will run through halls W3, W4 and W5 CEMAT 10 CeMAT Asia 2007 will be held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), 2345 Longyang Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai 201204 CEMAT 9 Japanese manufacturer Elephant Chain Block Co., Ltd. exhibited for the first time outside its homeland at CeMAT Asia 2006, and will return this year, despite agreeing that staging the event every year is too often CEMAT 11 Opening hours: October 10th (10.00-17.00), 11th and 12th (09.00-17.00), 13th (09.00-16.00) CEMAT 8 Dutch mobile power feed system manufacturer Akapp-Stemmann BV, will exhibit from its click-ductor range CEMAT 1 These cranes are fitted with the Akapp-Stemmann BV so-called click-ductor system CEMAT 2 Akapp-Stemmann BV at work in a paper mill CEMAT 3 The Micron 6 handheld device was shown at last year’s CeMAT Asia show. It comes with integrated LCD. As an alternative to suspended controls, it is suitable for the control of industrial cranes and machines CEMAT 4 Spectrum 1D is HBC-radiomatic’s new version of its proven transmitter spectrum 1 and comes with integrated LCD as a standard CEMAT 5 HBC-radiomatic’s new transmitter technos will be on its stand CEMAT 6 HBC-radiomatic’s Micron 6 handheld device CEMAT 7