SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CIMC-TianDa Holdings Company Limited ("CIMC-TianDa", stock code: 0445.HK), together with its subsidiaries namely, Sichuan Chuanxiao, Allied Best, Shanghai Jindun, Shenyang Jietong, CIMC Anfang and now associated company Albert Ziegler, participated in the 18th China International Fire Protection Equipment Technology Conference & Exposition ("International Fire Protection Exposition") and captured the audience's attention with its champion-level and comprehensive solution of fire-fighting services.
According to the organizer, the exposition was approved by the Ministry of Emergency Management and the Ministry of Commerce and was mainly organized by the China Fire Protection Association. It was the largest one in terms of scale since its maiden launch in 1986 and was also the largest international fire protection exposition held in China in terms of the number of participating countries (regions) and enterprises, scale and influence and technological level.
"Champion Strength" presented in the world's largest fire protection exposition with comprehensive product range
In this exposition, CIMC-TianDa showcased an extensive range of fire trucks from its four subsidiaries in the largest indoor and outdoor exhibition area of 4,228 square meters, and welcomed in-depth discussions with worldwide peers and customers on various topics such as product performance, production technology and after-sales services. The comprehensive and all-round fire protection solutions and global after-sales services network of CIMC-TianDa became the exposition's focus and highly appraised by global customers.
Among CIMC-TianDa's participating brands, Albert Ziegler GmbH is a fire truck brand with more than 127 years of history and its products are sold to more than 100 countries and regions globally. It has the largest market share in Germany and attracted numerous customers in the exposition with its core technical advantages and unique design. Sichuan Chuanxiao, with more than 50 years of history, has consistently recorded the largest annual domestic sales amongst its peers. Allied Best also has a domestic competitive advantage and reputation in various areas of firefighting equipment.
Shanghai Jindun specifically produces high-end special fire trucks and obtained over 90 national-level high-tech products industrialization projects. Its core products, which include anti-chemical sterilizing trucks and multifunctional chemical inspection trucks, first joined the exposition and captured international attention with its world-leading product performance. Shenyang Jietong is the pioneer of China's aerial lifting fire truck, with a market share of over 50% domestically. CIMC Anfang provides the country's fire services departments with comprehensive modular fire station overall solutions.
At present, China is speeding up the construction of intelligent firefighting systems, of which intelligent firefighting equipment and comprehensive coverage of firefighting network are the core requirements to enhance fire emergency capability in the country. For this, in recent years, CIMC has actively developed its advantages in container modular construction and fire fighting equipment industry and set up CIMC Anfang, focusing on building modular fire stations adapted to the rapid construction of firefighting outlets. At the moment, CIMC-TianDa has achieved a high level of intelligentization and digitalization of fire truck products. The self-developed intelligent Internet-of-Things (IoT) platform has been successfully launched. Firefighting departments and enterprises can utilize big data to fully analyze and sort out valuable information to realize intelligent management of fire trucks.
Zheng Zuhua, CEO of CIMC-TianDa, commented, "The first overall appearance of CIMC-TianDa and its subsidiary brands in the International Fire Protection Exposition has great significance to CIMC-TianDa. First, achieving fulfilled basic coverage across the nation as each subsidiary is located in the northeast, east and southwest of China. Second, the products showcased at the exposition had the best technology and craftsmanship globally. Also, international customers who had a significant understanding of the domestic and international firefighting industries were deeply amazed. These factors not only reflected the champion level of strength of CIMC firefighting businesses but also made the world feel the power of China firefighting industries."
CIMC Fire-fighting & Rescue business aims at being "world champion"
"In the world's largest fire protection exposition, CIMC-TianDa demonstrated its achievements in the firefighting industry over the years, which is a significant step for CIMC-TianDa to become No.1 of global industry. Since joining the industry, CIMC-TianDa's ambition is to become champion in the global firefighting industry," Zheng Zuhua said.
In 2013, CIMC successfully acquired a German heritage brand--Albert Ziegler GmbH, to enter the firefighting & rescue industry. Since then, with the support of CIMC group, Albert Ziegler GmbH has expanded its global market and became the most famous brand in China in terms of high-end imported fire trucks. In a short period of two to three years, Albert Ziegler GmbH turned losses into profits and has continuously maintained good profits. The successful acquisition and operation of Albert Ziegler GmbH have opened up the gateway from the airport equipment industry to urban rescue equipment industry.
In 2015, CIMC used 40% share of Albert Ziegler GmbH to exchange for 30% share of China Fire Safety Enterprise Group Limited (the former 0445.HK, hereinafter referred to as "CFE") and specifically positioned Firefighting & Rescue business as the primary business of CIMC-TianDa. In 2018, CIMC reversely injected its airport facilities assets into CFE and became its controlling shareholder, then renamed to "CIMC-TianDa". CFE was one of the earliest listed fire truck enterprises, its brands of Sichuan Chuanxiao and Allied Best are both famous and this marked the gradual implementation of the strategic layout of CIMC firefighting and rescue businesses.
Since then, CIMC-TianDa completed the acquisition of Shanghai Jindun and Shenyang Jietong in April and June 2019 respectively. After these two acquisitions, Shanghai Jindun, Shenyang Jietong and Sichuan Chuanxiao formed a full complement of southwest, southeast and northeast regions, thus basically realizing the geographical coverage in the whole country. As a result, CIMC has taken another important step towards becoming a global champion in the fire truck industry.
Continued urbanization will further expand the global fire industry market space
According to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2018, the urbanization rate of China's permanent residents reached 59.58%, but there is still a large gap to the urbanization rate of 80% in developed countries. Assuming that China's urbanization rate will reach 80%, the development space is still huge.
Many experts said that fire safety is highly important as it's closely related to peoples lives and property. For a long time, China has attached great importance to fire protection. The urbanization rate continues to grow, which puts higher demands on the country's ability to comprehensively improve the preemptive and reactive measure of disasters. Therefore, local governments put stronger support for the firefighting industry. In addition, the continued urbanization has also led to a significant increase in the demand for new additions and replacements for fire trucks and equipments in petrochemical enterprises as well as villages and towns.
In terms of Chinese firefighting market, there is still a shortage of fire trucks with approximately 21,000 units and market value of RMB21 billion. The gap needs to be filled up in the coming years according to the national plan. In addition, the urbanization is accelerating, which brings new demands on fire trucks and related equipments. It is expected that the demand for fire truck would reach to 75,000 to 80,000 units with a value of RMB7.5-8 billion.
As for the global market, according to incomplete statistics of relevant institutions, total sales of global fire trucks were 21,000 units, equivalent to about RMB32-35 billion in 2018. The countries and regions with the largest purchases are the United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia, China and Austria, and the largest single-country markets are the United States, China, and Germany. Among them, 2/3 of the existing fire trucks in North America have been in use for more than 10 years, and the potential replacement market size is expected to exceed RMB8 billion. The pent-up municipal investment over the years in Germany may prompt an acceleration in market demand in the coming years.
"As the urbanization process continues to accelerate, the market space of the global firefighting industry will be further expanded, which will lay a good market foundation for CIMC-TianDa's world champion road," Zheng Zuhua said.
Accelerate resource integration and create an industry champion map
CIMC-TianDa's 2019 interim report showed that both revenue and net profit of firefighting & rescue business doubled in the first half of 2019, and its market sales has ranked first in China, fifth in the world. It is believed that with the continuing prosperous fire engine market domestically and globally, the future prospects of CIMC-TianDa's firefighting & rescue business are quite promising.
At the Expo, Zheng Zuhua said that through a series of strategic layout and integration, CIMC-TianDa has more than 10 production bases around the world and a global sales and service network, which has changed the competitive landscape of the domestic firefighting industry by building a large-scale, full-coverage products, and competitive firefighting group, which has laid a solid foundation for achieving global fire truck industry championship.
"To become the world champion will be an important milestone of the CIMC-TianDa fire truck business. We, therefore, established the Fire Department to further strengthening the strategic layout and resource integration," Zheng added. "In addition, all firefighting brands under CIMC-TianDa have their own advantages and market base. After being integrated into the overall operation management system of CIMC-TianDa, the four subsidiaries will conduct synergy in procurement, sales, product technology, R&D and after-sales service. The overall coordination will further enhance the overall competitiveness and help achieve the strategic goal of our firefighting business."
