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PALFINGERs CEO Herbert Ortner is Man of the Year in Crane and Transport Industries

Published May 10, 2012 11:55 AM by The Maritime Executive

• ESTA Award of Excellence in recognition of outstanding successes

• Remarkable contribution to the development of the PALFINGER Group

Herbert Ortner, CEO of PALFINGER AG, was elected Man of the Year at the international ESTA Awards ceremony held in Paris a few days ago.

The European Association of abnormal road transport and mobile cranes (ESTA) represents companies in the crane and transport industries with the objective of promoting the international harmonization of rules and regulations. Since 2004, the annual ESTA Awards of Excellence have been conferred on crane and transport companies in recognition of special, complicated, innovative or otherwise interesting achievements. In addition, an outstanding individual receives the Gino Koster Award as Man of the Year.

The jury highlighted the successes that Herbert Ortner has unrelentingly pursued on behalf of the PALFINGER Group in recent years. Under his leadership, the PALFINGER Group has managed to increase revenue twice by approx. 30 per cent and recorded exceptional growth in earnings since 2009, thus solidifying the Group’s leading position in the world market. PALFINGER continues to stand for top quality and a highly innovative company.

To this end, Ortner has implemented numerous internal measures aimed at enhancing the Group’s flexibility, while taking significant steps to strengthen small product groups and develop new markets. Thus, North America and Russia have most recently become major sales markets for PALFINGER.

In February 2012, PALFINGER landed what Ortner describes as the “biggest project since PALFINGER’s IPO in 1999”: a partnership with the large Chinese heavy equipment manufacturer Sany Heavy Industry. Two joint ventures will position PALFINGER firmly in the Chinese market and, in return, bring Sany mobile cranes to Europe. The world’s third largest country has already become the largest automobile and truck market in the world. According to current estimates, the truck-mounted cranes market in China will account for roughly 50 per cent of the global market in 2017. PALFINGER will have a share in this growth in the future.

Herbert Ortner, born in 1968, has been with PALFINGER since 2001. He became a member of the Management Board in 2003 and has been CEO of PALFINGER AG since 2008. “It is a particular honour to receive this award from our industry, our competitors. In fact, my job is quite simple. We have outstanding employees who deserve this award as much as I do. Together we have been pursuing a clear goal – to maintain and further expand PALFINGER’s world market leadership,” is how he summarizes the secret of his success.