Constant development

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Denge has been manufacturing GSE for more than 30 years. Based in Istanbul, it supplies a wide range of GSE including passenger stairs, medical lifts, pallet and cargo container dollies, baggage carts, conveyor belts, towbars, water service units and lavatory service units, de-icers and catering trucks, in addition to passenger baggage handling and cargo transfer (storage and loading) systems.

According to managing director Murat Denge, the company is currently selling into more than 50 countries around the world and its big customers include the likes of global handlers Swissport, Dnata, Celebi and HAVAS. Its equipment is in use right across Europe, across the CIS states, in the Middle East and in Africa, he explains, and customer numbers are growing.

There are many reasons for Denge’s success, he considers. The first is the breadth of the product offering. Not only does the company have a wide range of basic equipment on offer, but many equipment types are available in a number of variants. For example, Denge’s passenger stairs come in the form of trailer types, over-truck types and as a self-propelled variant. Moreover, units can be modified to meet specific customer requirements.

The product portfolio continues to expand. This year has seen the firm launch a whole suite of new mobile, or self-propelled, GSE – the result, Murat Denge says, of customer requests. It has introduced new electrically powered equipment, boosting the strategy of minimising the environmental impact of the company’s GSE. According to Murat Denge, the manufacturer is likely to further enlarge its product range next year with new pallet and container transporters, as well as further baggage tow tractors. These are likely to be made available in both electrically powered and diesel variants, both of which remain in demand depending on users’ differing requirements.

Another reason for Denge’s success has been the quality of its equipment, he continues. Safety standards are surpassed, for example, but this has not impacted on the price competitiveness of the equipment.  Its offerings remain very competitive in comparison even to those of the big manufacturers that can mass-produce GSE on a level beyond Denge’s current requirements, he says.

Difficult market

While there is no doubting Denge’s past success or its future ambition, Murat Denge readily confesses that GSE provision remains a difficult market in which to operate and one that is now dominated by price considerations. Ground handlers are suffering from cost pressures exerted by airlines, which in turn are fed through to GSE manufacturers. This has led some suppliers to rationalise their product lines in order to achieve economies of scale on fewer production lines, while other manufacturers have been forced to leave the GSE business altogether, he observes.

Airlines are consolidating, coming together in order to survive, and this too has had an impact on the GSE sector, where many manufacturers have done the same (witness Goldhofer’s takeover of Schopf, for instance). Finally, the European market is very mature and we are unlikely to see any significant growth in demand for GSE in this region any time soon.

However, there is good news as well. Ever more stringent safety requirements brought in by regulatory bodies create demand for newer systems, while the pressure to lower carbon dioxide and other emissions has also stimulated demand from handlers for more modern GSE. Furthermore, while the European market may be somewhat stagnant, there is expansion elsewhere – and it is in these regions that Denge will be focusing its efforts.

For example, the aviation and GSE sectors in Russia, Africa and the Middle East are all growing rapidly, Murat Denge points out. What is more, Denge’s home country of Turkey has one of the fastest-growing aviation industries in the world. The market for GSE in Turkey is booming as carriers such as Turkish and low-cost carrier Pegasus order more and more aircraft while they rapidly widen their flight networks. A new, huge airport is also planned for Istanbul, another big opportunity for a Turkish GSE supplier.

The future remains bright, therefore, for Murat Denge and his team. An expanding product range, growing opportunities in its home market and developing countries, plus an inherent desire to innovate, all combine to offer a lot of potential for the Istanbul-headquartered manufacturer to grow still further.

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