Interview: talking growth with UP-Rentals, China

China’s MEWP rental market may not be in the boom times of several years ago, but there are still some companies expanding their businesses and reporting optimism about the future.

One such is Hangzhou-based UP-Rentals, which has a fleet of 7,500 aerial platforms rented from 11 locations in Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai.

That fleet size may not be of the same scale as CDHorizon, but it is big enough to make it one of the ten largest MEWP rental businesses in China.

And unlike some its larger competitors, UP-Rentals is focused solely on its home market.

Xu Jianding, operations director at UP-Rentals, pictured at the APEX Asia show in Shanghai. (Image: IRN)

Xu Jianding, the company’s operations director, speaking to International Rental News (IRN) at the APEX Asia exhibition in Shanghai, said it will remain in the Zhejiang market, with sufficient demand to justify plans to expand its network to 15 locations by the end of this year and as many as 20 by 2027.

The company, founded in 2013, has grown steadily over the past 12 years, but accelerated that expansion with an acquisition in the city of Ningbo in 2022 and an opening in Jinhua city in 2023.

The company’s entire fleet is supplied by Dingli, comprising 75% scissors and 25% booms, and with only 3% of the fleet diesel powered. In this respect UP-Rentals reflects the wider Chinese market, where diesel machines are becoming a thing of the past.

Mr Xu said the company is seeing good demand for work on major projects such as exhibition centres, airports and concert venues. Zhejiang is one of the most prosperous provinces in China.

The fleet will likely expand to 8,000 units by the end of the year, said Mr Xu, and he wants UP-Rentals to expand its big boom offering. To that end, the company is working with Dingli on 50m electric booms.

How has it managed to expand at a time of rental oversupply and dampened rates? He told IRN that UP-Rentals wants to be a responsible and professional rental business - it has recently become an IPAF member – and a “role model” in the Chinese rental market.

“We want to be a globally respected equipment rental company”, said Mr Xu.

UP-Rentals supplied multiple Dingli boomlifts on this new cultural centre being built in Zhejiang province, China.

He points to company’s stable financial situation, with revenues having grown steadily to reach around RMB100 million (€12 million) in 2024 and forecast 60% growth this year. The company also has a digital management platform, developed in-house, with all the machines connected by telematics.

Another development for the coming years is the construction of a remanufacturing facility in Jinhua. Mr Xu says this will be used for its own fleet, to expand the commercial life of machines beyond 15 years. (The company still has 2013 Dingli scissors in its fleet.)

He said this facility, which is scheduled for completion within two or three years, symbolises the company’s long-term approach and commitment to the business in China.