Europeans lead Access-50 growth

Seven of the top ten fastest growing companies were European - see list below - with fleet growth of between 29% and 53%. Spain's UMESA saw the biggest increase in its fleet, up 53% increase to 3600 units. The three non - Europeans in the fast growth league were from the US, with two of them - Ahern Rentals and Midwest Aerials - being independents.

Despite the investment in European fleets, US companies still dominate the list, taking eight of the top 10 positions, including the top 6. United Rentals retains the number one spot with a fleet of almost 711000 units. The top European company is Lavendon with 12784 machines.

A notable feature in this year's survey is the inclusion of seven rental companies from Japan, led by Nishio Rent All with an estimated fleet of 7000 lifts. All seven have fleets of more than 2000 lifts.

The Access-50 fleet now stands at almost 330000 machines, a 17.5% rise compared to last year. Strip out the impact of the addition of the Japanese firms and the total fleet still increased by around 12%.