Suburban Chicago Firm Awarded $38.9 Million Navy Contract

Manitex International — a maker of cranes and specialized materials handling equipment based in Bridgeview, Illinois — recently was awarded a $38.9 million contact to supply rough terrain forklifts to the US Navy, the company announced in a news release.

It is the second Department of Defense contract for the company in the past year.

The new contract calls for Manitex to deliver the specialized lift trucks, which have three different lifting capacities, to the Navy beginning in 2015.

Jeff Cockerton, general manager of Manitex’s Liftking product line, said the contract represents a continuation of the business relationship the company has had with the Navy for many years.

“We are very excited to get this order from the US Navy, which maintains very stringent and demanding product specifications to support their operations in the field,” Cockerton said. “With deliveries starting in 2015, we’re looking forward to layering this new production on top of the current volume we’re doing with this customer, historically one of our top accounts.”

With the new vehicle order, Maintex will be providing the Navy with between 80 and 100 vehicles each year.

Mark Aldrovandi, sales director of the Liftking line, agreed that it was a big win for the company.

“Our commitment to providing unique and innovative niche products resulted in another significant order from a great customer, based on a design we’ve provided to them for a number of years,” Aldrovandi said. “In fact, this is the second order from the US Navy for Liftking in the past 12 month, which virtually doubles our business with them, and underscores this customer’s confidence in our products and service.”