Heavy equipment manufacturer SANY America is working to establish a regional distribution and customer support center on a 68-acre site near Wilmington’s port.

Last fall, the company announced it had signed a seven-year lease for the roughly 532,000-square-foot facility at 202 Raleigh St., formerly occupied by Vertex Railcar Corp. and Terex Cranes.

Now, officials say, the company is making local investments that could pave the way for future growth in the Wilmington area and across the U.S.

SANY America, a wholly owned subsidiary of publicly held SANY Heavy Industry Co. Ltd., supplies heavy industrial equipment through its dealer partner network and supports a line of construction, port and material handling equipment ranging from excavators, wheel loaders and forklift trucks to cranes and drill rigs.

SANY America’s Beijing-based parent company was founded in 1989 as a small welding company. As of last fall, it employed a worldwide workforce of more than 26,000, and its sales topped $80 billion globally in 2022, according to The Wall Street Journal.

SANY America, which is headquartered just south of Atlanta in Peachtree City, Georgia, was drawn to the Wilmington facility because of its proximity to the port and central location on the East Coast. These factors will help speed up the distribution of parts within the company’s dealer network, said SANY America marketing director Nichole Greco.

“Having inventory and parts nearby is a great advantage to our dealers and customers because it means they will get what they need faster,” Greco said.

Parts from all four of the company’s equipment divisions could move through the Wilmington facility during the dealer distribution process, Greco said. The closest SANY America dealers to Wilmington are in Wake Forest and Monroe, according to the dealer database.

SANY America has a manufacturing presence in India, Brazil and Germany, and its cranes are made in China and then shipped to the U.S., said Brian Smoot, director of the company’s cranes division

The company also plans to establish a customer service center at the Wilmington facility, offering on-site service and product training for dealers. A crane demonstration site called SANY Lifts is also in the works.

SANY Lifts will allow prospective buyers to see and operate the company’s cranes firsthand before making a purchase, Smoot said. The company has a similar demonstration area at its Peachtree City headquarters for its dirt-moving equipment called SANY Digs.

While a few cranes are already set up at the Wilmington site, Smoot said more are set to arrive in the coming weeks. The cranes arrive by ship in Wilmington’s Port and then are driven down the road for a mile-and-a-half to reach the site, Smoot said.

Eventually, plans are to install three 30-by-30-foot crane pads and concentrate the company’s crane operations in the Port City.

“This will be our main regional distribution hub for cranes and construction equipment on the East Coast,” Smoot said.

The Wilmington site is a prime spot for crane demonstrations because height regulations in the area give the cranes adequate clearance to operate, according to Smoot. In contrast, the company’s Peachtree City headquarters is near a municipal airport, limiting the crane height to about 80 feet.
 
The company is still working to clean up the area slated for the cranes and improve some of the buildings and offices. Smoot said most of the renovations have taken place inside the site’s massive warehouse buildings.

The site has industrial-quality power and internal and direct rail. It’s also undergone upgrades in recent years, including the installation of new rail infrastructure and a blast, paint and cure booth. Los Angeles-based Industrial Realty Group bought the site for $6 million in 2014.

Following SANY America’s lease announcement last fall, several local leaders praised the company’s decision to establish a hub in Wilmington.

“SANY is a top global name in industrial equipment and will align nicely with greater Wilmington’s business community,” Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said at the time. “This company is a proven brand and has a growing market share. We’re proud SANY America has selected our city as a hub for its warehousing and distribution operations.”

Greco said the company sees potential for future growth on the Wilmington site, although she declined to specify what that could entail.

“Our new Wilmington facility fits our current needs well and offers us tremendous potential for growth,” she said.

While the site is operational, Smoot said they’re still waiting to install a permanent racking system for its parts, along with cosmetic upgrades like paint touch-ups and new signage.

Fewer than 50 people work at the Wilmington facility, but that’s set to change once operations pick up, Greco said. The company is hiring for new positions, she added.

SANY America plans to hold a grand opening for its Wilmington facility this fall.