The Demag Cranes Group was also unable to escape the effects of the financial and economic crisis in the financial year.

The Industrial Cranes segment benefited from our solid order book for Process and Standard Cranes from record financial year 2007/2008. The late cyclical nature of this segment meant there was a six-month delay before we felt the full impact of the crisis. Accordingly, we did not record a significant drop in order intake until the second quarter of financial year 2008/2009. When it came, however, its extent was in line with the general trend in the mechanical engineering industry. All product lines were affected.

In the Port Technology segment, customer restraint also made itself felt in capital investment decisions. This had a notable impact on automated products. Product orders from major projects, such as Antwerp Gateway, were postponed for the time being. Operators of new terminals also put off commissioning decisions. By contrast, we did receive orders for our versatile Mobile Harbour Cranes, albeit at much lower level.

In the Services segment, the high-margin spare parts business was particularly hard hit by the effects of the financial and economic crisis. Overall, however, this segment was not nearly as badly affected as the other two segments, as expected.