No rush to Romania

Don't expect an explosion of rental growth in Romania, says Razvan Marcu, marketing manager at Marcom (pictured), a Bucharest-based distributor for Komatsu, Potain, Grove and Sennebogen.

The reason why may seem a little paradoxical: he says the number of big projects underway and the rapid growth in sales of equipment in the country mean that there is “no space for rental”.

Mr Marcu says sales of construction equipment are growing at 80% every year – 750 new machines of all types entered the country in 2007. It will be closer to 2800 this year, and he forecasts 4000-4500 in 2008.

“It's not yet a rental market”, he tells IRN, “Contractors are changing their old equipment with new equipment. The market still has a lack of machines, and it is still a buying market. And the financial offerings from leasing companies are very good at the moment.” He adds that Romania's ‘Latin' mentality means that contractors still prefer to own their own equipment.

However, he expects that to change when some of the bigger road and infrastructure projects are finished and the focus shifts more to maintenance type jobs where rental of equipment may be more attractive. “It could start from 2009 or 2010.” He says big rental firms in western Europe will come eventually, “but not yet, there is no market there – for the moment.”

Marcom is now making its own efforts to help develop the rental idea in Romania. It has operated a small Marcom Rental division for two years, renting mainly Komatsu equipment for minimum periods of three months, but often longer. Mr Marcu says the division currently has around 15 machines in its fleet, but will be increased to nearer 50 next year, mainly comprising backhoe loaders and larger-sized excavators.