‘European Rental Week’ puts cost control and sustainability in spotlight

It is easy to be weary of the numerous themed ‘awareness’ days or weeks – hundreds take place every year – but equipment rental leaders in Europe are keen that contractors put any awareness-fatigue to one side and instead focus on some of the core messages of the 3rd European Rental Week, taking place from 13 to 19 October.

The week, which is organized by the European Rental Association, has three pillars – transitions (including energy and digital), sustainability and people.

Stéphane Hénon, the president of ERA, whose full-time role is president of Loxam, Europe’s largest rental business, says the core aims of the week are “to raise and develop the awareness of the rental concept, and also to promote rental a very sustainable, cost effective solution for our partners. That’s really the key the key message at the start of this rental week.”

Stéphane Hénon, the president of the European Rental Association and managing director of Loxam.

For Arne Severin, the CEO of Germany-based Zeppelin Rental GmbH, one of the top five rental businesses in Europe, the week brings the rental industry together in telling a positive story; “So, customers and potential employees all over Europe get an extensive, concentrated and at the same time diverse picture about the industry.”

For both Hénon and Severin, it is the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of rental that is a key point, particularly in a business environment characterized by uncertainty and low growth.

“I strongly believe that rental for customers is a solution to decrease their carbon emissions and improve their finances, because it’s cost effective, efficient”, says Hénon.

“They have access to a very wide range of equipment. They will pay the right price – and no more - for every task they have to complete. And in terms of sustainability, we are providing ‘new generation’ equipment, so less fuel consumption, less emissions, better productivity.”

He says some major contractors have totally switched to rental, but not all; “especially, I would say the medium sized companies, they are still purchasing equipment. They still have workshops and mechanics, but in the long run, I guess that they will consider the rental concept, and they will go for it, because it’s very, very efficient.”

Zeppelin’s Severin highlights the same benefits in terms of flexibility, cost control and reduced risk; “Besides, it gives access to the latest technology, and lower maintenance costs. Rental allows contractors to cover peaks in demand, test the latest machine models, and use special equipment that is not available in their own fleet.

“In uncertain times, when construction investments are declining noticeably, these characteristics of renting can be particularly important for customers.”

In the UK, Jeremy Fish, the CEO of Ardent Hire, expands on the flexibility theme; “if you’re owning equipment, it’s an asset that’s depreciating on your balance sheet. You’ve got to maintain it and you’ve got to look after it, whatever the level of demand.

“With rental you can flex your fleet in line with demand. The costs are truly variable. There are no fixed costs, no impact on your profit and loss, and actually, in in these times of uncertainty…it is actually the perfect time to rent.

“And in some respects, if you’re renting, you’re actually reducing your risks because in many ways you’re putting that risk onto the rental company. So, it does make sense at times like this.”

Deepening relationship

Severin thinks that the relationship between rental companies and customers is evolving beyond the supply of machines; “We work very closely with our customers, for example in the fields of digitalization and sustainability. When developing new online tools – for example, to improve business processes and transactions - the needs of our customers have the highest priority.

“As far as sustainability is concerned, we enable our customers to test new emission-free or emission-reduced equipment before we acquire it for our rental fleet. Besides, regular meetings with major customers take place to discuss how Zeppelin Rental can support to achieve their sustainability goals.”

He adds that Zeppelin Rental – which is part of the Cat Rental Store network and sister company to Caterpillar dealer Zeppelin Baumaschinen – rents far more than earthmoving equipment; “We offer comprehensive planning and services, for example in the fields of road and traffic safety, modular space systems and electricity and water supplies for construction sites. We control secondary processes on construction sites with our access control systems, supply and disposal logistics and a lot more.”

Arne Severin, Chairman and CEO of Zeppelin Rental.

Stéphane Hénon says Loxam and others are always looking at new services to offer; “It’s not only about rental, it’s much more through the digitalization of our business, we can offer a lot of digital tools to our customers which saves them time and money, from the quotation to the payment of the invoice, for the location of assets.

“When you have a big site, they can have all the tracking data of all the machines to improve utilization, to optimize their cost. The digital part is quite key.”

Ardent’s Jeremy Fish agrees that telematics gives contractors data they can use to reduce their hire costs.

“Hiring a telehandler is not just hiring a bit of metal anymore, although some people would say it is. Actually, if you’re doing it properly, it’s hiring that bit of metal, but actually using the data to optimize the productivity of it to reduce operating costs and to improve safety.”

Sustainability goals

Of course, the energy transition is an opportunity for the rental sector to expand the partnership with contractors.

Stéphane Hénon says customers understand the role that rental companies can play; “They can test it, try it with a rental partner. They see that it needs a kind of change management, but in the end, the contractors are happy. The efficiency in terms of fuel consumption is much better. The emissions are reduced. So that’s what we can offer.

“And probably the next step will be what we will bring to them thanks to artificial intelligence. We are all working on that because the key point for rental companies is that we’re managing lots of data about customers, equipment, sites, etc.

“By using this data, we will be able to supply very good service and high quality data to our customers for the safety of their operations, the cost of their operations, for the sustainability of their sites. So that’s the next step. We’re only at the start, and I would say probably at this stage rental companies are much more on the ‘big data’ step than artificial intelligence.”

Ardent Hire’s Jeremy Fish says that using a reputable rental company should in itself help with sustainability goals; “you’re more likely to be renting new equipment and the new equipment is probably the most emissions friendly, with Stage V equipment, reduced NOx emissions, smaller engines. By default the CO2 emissions are less.

Jeremy Fish, CEO of Ardent Hire (Photo: Ardent Hire)

“And the other side of it is innovation. Some rental companies are innovating, using HVO - although I would argue that that’s a transition fuel - and we’ve invested quite heavily, for example, in a smart management fuel system called Fuel IT that helps companies account for every drop of fuel and helps reduce fuel consumption, and therefore help helps reduce emissions.”

Pull-back on sustainability?

In the current difficult construction market in Europe, does Stéphane Hénon see any pull-back on sustainability?

“It’s true that recently, because of the uncertainty all around the world and because of the US position on sustainability, it is less of a major issue. We can feel that. But the big contractors, they are still working on it.

“They have set targets for the reduction of their emissions. It’s a long journey, a five to 10 year journey, so they are not forgetting about their targets, but in the short term it’s less of an issue, and they are more focused on efficiency, cost.”

He says Loxam is not stepping back from investment, although perhaps not accelerating as much as it had anticipated; “We see that rental companies are slowing down their investment in electric, in hydrogen, because the technology is not mature yet.

“But it will come in the long run. Construction is cyclical and we are at the bottom of the cycle. But when we increase again, it will be a focus for our customers”.

So, there are multiple strands to the rental-contractor dynamic: a maturing rental industry, a deepening set of services to offer, digitalization, managing the energy transition, and cost efficiency.

They will all be highlighted during the European Rental Week. How will Loxam be marking the week? “Every day, we’re going to publish on our social media channels in all 29 of our countries”, says Loxam’s Hénon, “We’ve asked our countries to participate, and we have supplied them with materials - videos, articles.

“And each day we will address a key message. On Monday it is innovation and technology, on Tuesday sustainability, with safety on Wednesday.”

What about Zeppelin Rentals? “We look forward to contributing to the European Rental Week on our social media channels and to bring the work of our amazing colleagues into focus”, says Arne Severin, “The rental industry is such a great space to work in.”

• If you want to contribute to the week, see details at https://europeanrentalweek.eu/ Join in using the hashtag #RentalWeek2025