remainder of the things we import— chairs, grips, hangers, gondola cabins, gearboxes, and direct drives—were all subject to the reciprocal tariffs,” he says. The European Union inked a deal in late July to reduce reciprocal tariffs to 15 percent. Tariffs on Switzerland reached 39 percent in August, where they remained until a mid-November deal for 15 percent. “The reciprocal tariffs had a lot of changes throughout the summer,” says Johns. “Sometimes it just depended on when a particular good cleared cus- toms what tariff was applied.” August tariff hike. Making things worse, on Aug. 19, the Commerce Depart- ment added 407 product categories to the list of “derivative” steel and aluminum products covered by Section 232 sectoral tariffs. “It flew a bit under the radar but was effective at midnight,” says Man- ley. “In one day, ski lift equipment from Europe changed from being tariffed at 15 percent to 50 percent.” This also impacted conveyor com- panies, all of which manufacture in Europe. “Prior to [Aug. 19], as long as we were bringing in a complete machine, we weren’t getting hit with the steel and aluminum tariffs because we weren’t bringing raw material in,” notes Rowan. Manley explains that even one grip would be tariffed at different rates—the steel pieces at 50 percent but the compos- ite parts at 15 percent. “The steel and aluminum tariffs have been the most challenging to understand and work with,” says Johns. “They require getting into a lot of detail on what shipped and where it comes from and what the steel and aluminum content is.” As of this writing, the U.S. Supreme Court was reviewing the legal- ity of April’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, but the Section 232 metal tariffs were likely to remain in place. DOMESTIC MANUFACTURING A stated intent of the tariffs was to incen- tivize domestic manufacturing, but all three major aerial lift manufacturers note they have been working to onshore more production for years. Leitner-Poma opened a new facility in Grand Junction, Colo., in 2009 and Skytrac debuted its Tooele, Utah, headquarters in 2024. “We’ve been studying and looking at
TOTAL NEW LIFT INSTALLATIONS: 10-YEAR COMPARISON
29
34
37
42
24
33
58
57
47
37
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
TOTAL NEW VTFH: 10-YEAR COMPARISON
36,484
54,148
89,821
49,211
34,044
57,643
118,515
125,735
91,056
76,313
140K
120K
100K
80K
60K
40K
20K
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
Note: Vertical transport feet per hour (VTFH) measures the number of passengers who can be transported 1,000 vertical feet in one hour. It is derived by multiplying the vertical rise in feet by the lift capacity per hour and dividing by 1,000.
NEW LIFTS BY REGION: 10-YEAR COMPARISON
PACIFIC
MIDWEST
MOUNTAIN
CANADA
EAST
25
20
15
10
5
0
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
These 10-year comparisons makes it easier to see trends and anomalies. For example, while the number of installations and installed VTFH follow similar relative curvature, they are not directly related.
Also notable: Despite the recent decline in new aerial lift installations, North American ski areas have av- eraged almost 40 new lifts over the past 10 years. The previous 10-year average (2006-2015) was roughly 29 installations, with a high of 38 in 2008. So, historically speaking, a lot of new lifts are still being built.
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