With its products and services in the Industrial Cranes, Port Technology and Services segments, the Demag Cranes Group operates on the global market for cargo handling equipment and material logistics. This market includes all products which perform, control and monitor cargo handling and logistics processes, including the corresponding software solutions and services.

The market for industrial cranes shrank in the 2008/2009 financial year. Generally, the global economic crisis hit pure component suppliers harder than international suppliers of system solutions like Demag Cranes. Changes in industry conditions were largely in line with the market development in the mechanical engineering industry. According to an assessment by the industry association VDMA, order intake in the mechanical engineering sector was down by 44 percent in real terms in the period from January to September 2009 compared with the previous year. The materials handling systems sector declined at a similar rate. The market share of emerging markets continued to grow steadily, despite the slowdown. Competition on emerging markets tends to be highly fragmented. Global market consolidation also continued its advance in the industrial cranes market.

In the market for the Port Technology segment, cargo volumes declined steeply and container transport rates fell dramatically in financial year 2008/2009. The decline in cargo volumes on the principal routes between Asia and North America, which was already apparent in summer 2008, deepened as a result of the economic crisis and caused a worldwide slump in the shipping industry to an extent which could not have been predicted. Customers of the Port Technology segment reacted to these developments by stopping or drastically reducing investment activities. Many customers have also deferred planned investments. In addition to expansion investments, replacement investments also failed to materialise since the low capacity utilisation of terminals meant there was hardly any need for them. This low capacity utilisation also severely reduced demand for services. Overland container shipping showed a similar picture. Investments declined sharply here, too, due to fallen economic output. The resources for expanding the transport infrastructure provided by the German government’s economic stimulus packages did not have a positive impact on the Port Technology segment in the financial year. Although there is still customer demand for cost-cutting and environmentally friendly solutions, the economic situation has greatly intensified price competition.

The effects of the financial and economic crisis are also taking their toll in the market of the Services segment. Overall, global demand for services fell in financial year 2008/2009. Lower utilisation of crane systems by customers meant that demand was down in all markets, especially for spare parts. However, the basic trend towards increased requirements for safety, reliability and availability with the corresponding business potential for services remains unbroken.