Encouraging trends within sections of the world construction market leads equipment manufacturer Atlas Copco to be cautiously optimistic for the year ahead. Speaking in London before Christmas, senior executive vice president of Construction & Mining Technique, Freek Nijdam, predicted that, although 1999 had been a tough year, it appeared that things were now bottoming out.
Nijdam reported that the Asian economies, especially Korea, were coming back following the economic crisis of a few years ago. However, there was little indication that the economies of the southern hemisphere were yet on the road to recovery.
Meanwhile, the company reported the continued growth of its rental business, especially in the US, and announced that service and maintenance now accounted for 45% of global company revenue, compared with 30% in 1998.
At the same London event, the company launched the new Rocket Boomer L3 series, the largest rigs in the range. These sophisticated machines are capable of maximum tunnelling applications of 108m² to 171m², depending on the model chosen.
A fuller report on this new range will be included in a future issue of T&T International.
