Renters in Russia to create rental association

Three of the biggest rental companies in Russia and one other founding partner have agreed to establish a Russian equipment rental association.

The four companies - renters Cramo, Ramirent and Catprokat and rental website B2B-Rent - signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly establish a rental association. The document was signed during the first Russian rental conference, held in Moscow on 2-3 December and organised by B2B-Rent.

Mr Valery Klimenko, director of development for Ramirent in Russia, who was a participant in the conference, told IRN that the four founding members had started to go through the process of establishing the association and hoped that official registration would be completed by March next year.

"The aim of the association is to get reliable statistics about rental activity in Russia", said Mr Klimenko, "But more important is the promotion of rental - to show to contractors and others what rental can give to them. That is the main idea. Also, to have common rules on how to play on the market, and to adopt common general conditions of contract."

Mr Klimenko said the four founders will meet again in January. He said the target is to recruit as many as 15 rental service companies to the organisation during its first year of operation. He estimates that there are 30 to 50 serious rental service companies in Russia.

The Russian rental conference held last week was attended by as many as 70 delegates, including around 20 Russian rental companies. European Rental Association (ERA) secretary general, Michel Petitjean, and Franco de Michelis, Assodimi secretary general, both gave presentations, as did Scott McCall, Russian area manager for Altec Worldwide.