Digital solutions for tyre management

“Everything is becoming more and more demanding in the port environment. Load and speed generate heat which is demanding on tyres,” Julian Alexander said.

“We need to learn and work with our customers to understand their operations. Tyres have become an asset and ports want to know how to maximise that asset.”

After fuels, tyres are the second biggest cost for a port.

Mr Alexander said that Continental offers tyre management solutions rooted in the digital sphere, commenting: “Everything is digital these days and we have smart solutions that really are the future.

“In ports, customers are telling us that they don’t want the driver to see what’s going on. They want them to concentrate on driving,” Mr Alexander added.

The product line manager said that a big trend for the future is tyre management and that Continental have invested in alternative materials and in ensuring tyre recyclability.

“Now we are monitoring tyres; in the future, this will move to predictive analysis,” Mr Alexander explained.

“We are committed to introducing new products and ensuring continuous product enhancement of existing products.

“The biggest challenge at the moment is understanding what customers are doing with their tyres so that we can recommend the best product. Many terminals still use road truck tyres for their terminal tractors.”

In 2016, Continental announced the launch of ContiConnect, a tyre information and management system for commercial fleets.

The product, which was launched in June, is designed to monitor, analyse and report tyre pressure and temperature for an entire fleet based on data collected from ContiPressureCheck sensors.

“The intention is to have sensors in every tyre,” Mr Alexander said.

“Earth-moving equipment tyres already do this; we want to do the same thing.”