CONEXPO 2008

Foreign crowd boosts numbers of popular show

By Tony Illia

CONEXPO-CON/AGG, the megasized construction industry trade show, attracted 144,600 attendees at the Las Vegas Convention Center from March 11-15. The triennial event saw 2,000 exhibitors occupying 2.2 million sq. ft. worth of indoor and outdoor displays, which equates to roughly 18 billionlbs worth of freight spread across more than 48 acres.

"Coming into the show, the attendance and occupancy was down," says Megan Tanel, vice president of expositions for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, the Milwaukee-based company that owns the show. "There were some expectations I wasn't sure we could make" due to a softening economy and tightening credit, she adds.

Despite the lower attendance, officials from Wells Fargo Construction of Tempe, Ariz., one of this year’s CONEXPO exhibitors, predict a favorable 2008, with equipment distributors and contractors seeing more activity outside the troubled housing market. According to the company’s annual construction survey, 75% of contractors feel construction activity will increase or stay the same this year, and almost one-third expect to see more bidding opportunities.

Wells Fargo Construction, which manages over $5 billion of receivables within the heavy highway and civil construction sectors, has seen its business rise 15% during the first two months this year over 2007.

“There is a general sense of optimism with more work and more opportunities to bid,” says general manager Ron Riecks. “The tremendous in-migration of people in the South has that area playing catch-up with infrastructure, while place like the Northeast are faced with rehabilitating aging infrastructure.”

A weakened dollar and strong global demand also helped buoy this year’s CONEXPO by attracting 26,000 international attendees from 130 countries, including 60 official international buyer delegations, up from 44 in 2005. International attendees accounted for 19% of CONEXPO’s total attendance, a new show record.

First-time international delegations included Argentina, Cape Verde, Croatia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Mongolia, Qatar and Uruguay.

Global sales are playing an increasing important business role for U.S. heavy equipment manufacturers such as Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar, which had 60,000 sq ft of exhibit space and 350 employees at this year’s event. In 2007, the company exported more than $12.6 billion of products from the U.S., a 20% increase compared to the previous year.

Officials from Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers of British Columbia, another CONEXPO exhibitor, say they also have seen more foreign activity. The firm held a used equipment auction in February in Orlando, Fla., that attracted a record 6,045 bidders, including 70 from other countries. Roughly 36% of the equipment sold went to bidders taking it out of the country.

“We’ve seen the number of foreign bidders more than double during the last few years,” says Peter Blake, CEO of Ritchie Bros. “The compressed value of the dollar and increased activity abroad are driving the international activity. “We’re seeing activity from strong commodity areas such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East.”

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