Material handling equipment is being driven by port expansion
Forklift start-up Etali says that it has got the backing from Saudi investors to start production in the Kingdom by the end of the year.
Etali‘s Dave O’Callaghan and promotion director Namsheed Nazzer said that they had met with a number of interested investors last week in Riyadh.
“The result of these meeting will see the production of the first Etali iLift forklifts before the end of this year,” said O’Callaghan. “To start a new era of forklift manufacturing in the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia.”
Etali plans to employ 500 Saudi nationals at its plant which will produce diesel model forklifts in the 6-8t range. It is also looking to manufacture a 18t empty container handling forklift, a larger general purpose forklift, Ladan container handling forklifts and container handling reach stackers within the first three years.
Etali says that it will use its Saudi production house to target the Middle East, Asia , North America and Europe. When the facility is in full production it will manufacture 200 units by the end of 2013 and over 5,000 by the end of 2015.