Let there be no doubt. There was strong demand for lift trucks in 2000 on a worldwide basis. And the revenues of the world's 20 largest suppliers generally increased along with the markets as this year's survey shows. At the same time, there was a shift in balance at the top, some shuffling around the middle, and the debut of one new name to round out the list.

To begin, 1999's top three lift truck suppliers were still the top three at the end of 2000. But with a slightly different look.

Until last year, Linde was unquestionably the largest lift truck supplier in the world with both NACCO/MHG and Toyota trailing by $1.3 billion in revenues. But Toyota's purchase of BT Industries including Raymond at mid-year restructured the landscape a bit.

Now instead of two companies vying for the second spot, Linde and Toyota are in what appears to be a dead heat for world domination, each with revenues of $3.0 billion. In the next spot is NACCO/MHG at $1.9 billion.

The consolidation of Toyota and BT also opened up a spot on our list for a company that had not appeared before - Drexel Industries. Coming in at number 20, Drexel posted revenues of $25 million in 2000.

In between there was some jockeying for position. Perhaps the most significant of which was Nissan's move up by three spots. Nissan's revenues of nearly $800 million put it ahead of Manitou and TCM.

The biggest single move was made by Finnish supplier Partek due to statistical reasons. It was discovered that in the past Partek was credited with sales of shipping port container handling equipment that does not belong in our listing. As a result, Partek fell from the twelfth spot to number 16 despite the fact it had a very strong year in lift trucks in 2000.

Clark is the only one of the companies in the top 20 that operated under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the year 2000. The company filed in mid-April with specific reorganization plans. These included closing its Lexington, Ky. plant at the end of the year and moving manufacturing to facilities in Korea, Germany, and Alabama. Although the company declined to supply revenue figures for this report due to its Chapter 11 status, a spokesman did say sales were up last year, indicating that the filing has not had an adverse effect on Clark's sales.

There were also some major agreements and alliances during 2000.

Right at the start of the year, Komatsu Forklift acquired all outstanding shares of Kalmar AC. The move had been preceded by Komatsu's purchase of a controlling interest some time before.

Then in February, Komatsu and Linde announced their agreement to build a cooperative relationship to build and sell lift trucks. Komatsu purchased from Linde a 10% stake in Fiat OM, an Italian subsidiary of Linde. Meanwhile, Linde acquired 10% of Komatsu Forklift.

The next stage of the agreement made Komatsu a distributor for Linde in Japan. Also, Fiat OM was slated to start production of lift trucks for Komatsu.

The other major agreement of the year was between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nissan. The two companies plan to create what they call "a cross supply of products", additional capacity, and shared development programs.

We will keep an eye out for the impact of these agreements as we prepare next year's report. By then, we may well have a clear cut leader among lift truck suppliers.