Fleet Business
Bridgestone has signed a new commercial fleet partnership with Stobart Energy, the UK’s number one supplier of biomass fuel. The fleet will run exclusively on the Bridgestone Duravis R002. The tyre is designed to lower cost per kilometre through both wear performance and fuel efficiency. Designed for the versatility segment, the Duravis R002 is available to all types of on-road fleet operation and deliver outstanding wet grip.
Founded in the South West in 1919, Gregory Distribution is one of the largest privately-owned transport companies in the UK. The Group consists of the Gregory Distribution business, ARR Craib Transport, newly acquired Pollock (Scotrans) and its joint venture business Hayton Coulthard Transport. Across the group it operates 1,100 vehicles and 2,000 trailers.
Continental has brought together its range of tyre services for the fleet sector under the banner of Conti360° Solutions. Going forwards, fleet solutions will be offered as an overall package: The Conti360° Solutions contracts comprise both digital solutions such as ContiConnect and ContiPressureCheck, and ContiLifeCycle – including the ContiRe and ContiTread retreading products and casing management.
The car registration data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) for the month of March shows that the UK new car market recorded its first ‘growth’ since August 2020, with 29,280 more units registered during March compared to the same month last year. However, the month represents the anniversary of the first lockdown in March 2020, when the pandemic brought Britain to a standstill and registrations fell by -44.4 per cent.
The world’s largest temperature-controlled industrial REIT and logistics solutions provider, Lineage Logistics, LLC, has awarded Michelin’s Services & Solutions team a five-year tyre management agreement covering its UK fleet after back-to-back tyre trials highlighted a range of sustainability improvements could be unlocked with a change in policy.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has entered into a strategic relationship with UFODrive, and going forwards will work together with the all-digital, all-electric car rental company to integrate their complementary mobility solutions. The two firms intend to pair Goodyear’s intelligent tyre monitoring system and proactive solutions suite with UFODrive’s eMobility software as a service platform.
Scottish tyre dealer Easityre has moved its fleet of wholesale delivery vans onto a Michelin Agilis CrossClimate policy having found the tyres to last twice as long as rival premium brand fitments. Operating from two locations in Fife and Tayside, the independent dealer distributes tyres to the motor trade throughout east and central Scotland.
McGill’s Buses has extended its 19-year relationship with Michelin, signing a new Effitires contract with the Michelin Services and Solutions team to cover its entire fleet of single and double deck buses. At the end of last year McGill’s acquired Xplore Dundee from National Express, making it the UK’s largest independent bus operator – running 650 vehicles from depots across Scotland and employing 1,200 members of staff. Michelin has been supplying and managing the business’s tyres since 2002.
Twenty Wrightbus hydrogen double-decker buses have been ordered by Birmingham City Council as part of its Clean Air Hydrogen Bus Pilot. The buses will be added to the National Express West Midlands fleet and will operate from April 2021. The city already has 29 battery-electric double-decker buses in circulation and this order represents the council’s latest move to drive down emissions.
John Sutch Cranes has confirmed it will specify Michelin tyres across its fleet of mobile cranes, tractor units, trailers and rigid trucks, after a trial set of Michelins covered more than twice the distance normally seen from the firm’s previous tyre of choice. The family business compared the performance of the 445/95 R25 Michelin X-Crane + tyres fitted to one of its three-axle Liebherr cranes, versus an identical crane doing similar work, but running on the same size tyres from another premium brand.
Staffordshire-based N.S. Clarke Transport has specified Michelin tyres as original equipment across 30 new Volvo FH 6×2 500hp tractors joining its fleet, praising the tyre company for its impressive pence per kilometre running costs and its innovative accidental damage guarantee.
Scandinavian start-up full-electric vehicle manufacturer Volta Trucks has signed a new tyre partnership with Bridgestone. The world’s largest tyre manufacturer will fit its tyres to the first launch vehicle, which will be revealed at an online event on Thursday 3 September. The agreement also covers the supply of tyres to Volta’s pilot vehicles, due to start evaluation with fleet operators in early 2021. Large logistics fleet operators have already signed-up to trial the Volta Zero, including DPD Group in the UK and Bring and Posten in Scandinavia, with orders also already being taken for the vehicle in both markets.
In the coming months, Tructyre ATS will replace its regional call and administration centres in Eastleigh, Widnes, Aston and Avonmouth with a central Customer Experience Centre in Gateshead. This evolution in the company’s operating model follows the creation of a new Gateshead-based customer service team earlier this year.
Michelin is rolling out a new digital services platform for customers in the USA. The tyre maker is offering the cloud-based Maestro platform through its 2018-established Services and Solutions division with the aim of creating “a stronger, more effective working relationship between service providers, fleets and Michelin.”
Bridgestone has collaborated with Microsoft in the development of a new monitoring system for the real-time detection of tyre damage. The UK’s Department for Transport 2018 statistics show tyre issues contribute to 30 per cent of all car accidents caused by technical failure. Bridgestone says its Tyre Damage Monitoring System is the “final piece in tracking tyre issues.” The system offers similar applications to recent market solutions that process live data using algorithms to predict the effects of tyre damage and notify drivers, fleet operators and service providers. What separates it from existing systems is that no additional hardware need be installed, the manufacturer adds.
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