Fresh off their victory in the FIFA World Cup in soccer this past summer, Germany has now won the coveted Stapler Cup, also known as the World Cup of forklift driving.
A team of German forklift operators competed against other driver teams from all over the world during the Forklift Cup World Championships, held earlier this month in Frankfurt, Germany. Second place went to a team from China and third went to Hungary. The forklift driving team from the USA did not finish in the money.
The competitions was held September 18 to 20 at the home of Linde materials handling, located in Aschaffenburg, Germany. In addition to the German National and Company Team Championship events, this year’s competition featured a World Team Championship and, for the first time ever, a Singles Forklift Driving Championship.
More than 2,000 competitors from countries all over the globe attempted to qualify for the competition in national events. The winners traveled to Germany to compete against world-class forklift operators. In addition to the home nation of Germany, nations represented included Austria, Belgium, China, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Spain and the US.