Material handling equipment new orders grew by over 7% in 2012, and are expected to grow by 5 or 6% by the end of 2013. The growth it is expected to be at 10% by 2014. States MHI executive consultant, Hal Vandiver, “as the current US economic expansion shifts from capital expenditure driven to consumer-led, we anticipate modest, positive MHEM growth for 2013. Housing, automotive rebounds and expansion in industrial, warehouse and commercial buildings (over 69% 2014 – 2018) will contribute substantially to improved MHEM growth for 2014 and beyond.” Also having grown exponentially are equipment shipments by 9.8% in 2012, and predictably will be at 3.5% in 2013 and 9.1% in 2014. Although new orders and equipment shipments have grown dramatically, trade growth has declined by 12%, which reflects problems in the foreign trade market. Import and export growth has gone down quite dramatically with decline at 17.9%, which is down 37.7% from 2011. Export growth was 11.2% in 2012, which was down from 26.2% in 2011. The import and exports are expected to continue in their decline in 2013, but expected to grow again in 2014. This way to the full article.