Northern Ireland-based transportation group Eagle Overseas has reported significant cost and performance improvements thanks to an overhaul in its tire management strategy. The group switched to the Conti360° Fleet Services program just over a year ago.
With a fleet of some 90 vehicles, the family-run business provides parcel services and contract and warehouse logistics across the UK, Ireland and Europe, including airfreight services.
Eagel Overseas’ business development director, Carol Norval, said, “In previous years we had been running mixed brands of tire, however this strategy had many issues in terms of reliability, cost and fleet management, so we had been actively looking for a more sustainable solution.”
Norval continued, “We decided to make a change because we needed a dedicated tire solution that was fit for our purpose. Monitoring and reporting was a key feature that we wanted to incorporate into our tire strategy across the entire fleet, and it soon became clear to us that Conti360°, with the local service support of Modern Tyres, which has 43 branches throughout Ireland, was the obvious choice.”
Continental became the sole tire and tire-management service supplier to Eagle Overseas in May 2017. This saw the fleet change from its former mixed-tire policy to a 100% Conti new-only policy – specifically, the Generation 3 Continental Hybrid tires; HS3 and HD3 for tractor steer and drive axles respectively; and HT3 tires on the trailer fleet. These have re-designed narrowed grooves that give a bigger pattern volume designed to enhance wear resistance and improve fuel economy.
Eagle Overseas has noticed many benefits as a result of switching to the Conti tires. “There has definitely been a reduction in downtime due to tire failures, as well as an extension in tire life overall,” said Norval.
“The current Generation 3 products offer us a range of sizes, which is ideal. Another key benefit of using the Conti360° Fleet program is that it allows us to tap into both new and retread products.”
The company also noted benefits from using the Continental Casing Management program (part of Conti360°), in which worn tires are returned to Continental to be inspected and graded, and then either re-used in the production of Continental’s retreaded ContiRe range or scrapped and disposed of responsibly.
Also within Conti360° is a complete initial tire fitment service; a comprehensive breakdown program; ContiFleetCheck offering regular inspections; and ContiFleetReporting, which delivers regular analyses of a fleet’s tire-related data to identify potential areas where cost savings could be made.
