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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
fleets continue to be harassed, and there is no end to their trouble.
The UAE has around 23 operational retread plants with hardly six certified by the Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA). It is unclear why authorities are allowing other plants to operate, as uncertified sites are operating only after getting the go-ahead from the civic authorities, and they are in no way considered as illegal operations. “There is a huge annual subscription of AED 25,000 is to be paid to ESMA to secure the various certifications to retread tyres, but there is no guarantee that after getting certification from ESMA, the fleets
are not fined for running on retread tyres,” said another retreader.
But in this highly fluid scenario when no one knows who is going to be in the business next year, kudos must be given to the enterprising spirit of Malayales (Keralites) from the South Indian state of Kerala, who are the backbone of the retreading business not only in the UAE but in the whole of the Middle East. The majority of the retreading industr y in the region is owned by Keralites with a local silent partner, and they keep moving on the despite challenges of Chinese tyres and of course against all the odds.
near future,” he said.
On revival Universal would also offer conventional hot retreading along with the precure version.
“The market shift is clearly in favour of hot retreading and on revival both versions would be offered, said Malkani.”
Emirates Transport Wins Transport Excellence Award
Despite the struggling retreading industry in the United Arab Emirates, state-owned transport company Emirates Transport continues to fare exceedingly well. Indeed, the country’s largest transport enterprise recently won the UAE’s “Transport Excellence Award” for the “Best Cost Saving Project” for the year 2017, awarded by the Emirates government.
company says it has faced shortages of casings in 11R/22.5, 100R/20, 825R/20, 315/18R22.5 and 12R/24 sizes.
It is now seriously considering importing casings from the Far East to overcome the shortage of casings in the Emirates. “It is now an uphill task to find suitable casings for retreading, therefore, we are considering casing import from Japan or the Philippines. We
Universal Shuts Dubai Site
Pramod Karuthedath, Factory Manager, Emirates Transport
One of the largest Dubai-based retreaders - Universal Tyres & Retreading Systems L.L.C., has been forced to shut down operations owing to depleting volumes. The fact that the UAE market has been flooded with Chinese tyres leading to highly competitive retread pricing was given as a key factor in the decision for the closure of what was one of the most significant retreaders in the UAE market. “The volumes have been dropping consistently, and prices have become so competitive that it hardly left us with any profit margins. This has left us with no option but to close down the operation,” informed Vikas Malkani responsible for Sales & Marketing at Universal Tyres &
volumes dropped drastically to 15-20 tyres each day, and recovering the production and operational costs became increasingly difficult for the promoters. “Plant overheads, mainly rent of the premises, went up sharply, raw material prices and input costs continued on an upwards trend, while retread prices remained stagnant.” Universal was buying tread rubber in various brands to serve high, mid-range and low-price segments. The company imported tread from South Africa, Malaysia and India from brands like Leader, Maxrubber, Midas, Bremels and Tolins. According to Malkani, the plant ceased operations in the middle of 2018.
Despite the gloom of the closure,
“We saved AED 5 million on tyres in 2017, saving the corporation a considerable proportion of its new- tyre budget spend”, informed a beaming Pramod Karuthedath, Factory Manager, Emirates Transport in an interaction with Retreading Business in Dubai recently. The company operates its own retread site at its headquarters.
Established in 1981, Emirates Transport (ET) is the trade name for Emirates General Transport and Services Corporation, the UAE’s government-owned public transport provider, providing services largely to the government and education sectors.
Although the Emirates based retreading industry has been gasping for breath, Emirates Transport continues to break records. The company saved
6.4 million on its tyre spend
2018.
“We increased savings on our tyre spend by 18% on the previous year despite being slightly short on meeting our targets due to poor casing availability in the domestic market,” Pramod stated. The
prefer Japanese casings as their performance is better on Emirates roads compared to others,” he emphasised.
Interestingly, ET is planning to embark on a retread site automation programme based on AI (artificial intelligence). “The budget for the project has been approved and an IT company has also been appointed to implement the AI project in the retread plant this year. The automation will improve product quality, optimise manpower utilisation and expedite on time delivery,” said Pramod. ET assumes AI will be able to 8% savings on raw materials and a 14% improvement in productivity on the programme’s implementation. The company retreads almost 70% of its 11,000- strong school bus fleet and around 50% of the company’s truck tyres. “We operate the bus fleet on retread tyres on the rear axle - all buses run on new front tyres, “he said.
ET retreaded 20,000 tyres by the precure process in 2018 and is looking to increase production by 25% to 25,000 units in 2019.
Vikas Malkani
Retreading Systems L L C.
About a decade ago, the Universal site rode on the construction boom in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, retreading more than 3,000 tyres each month on two autoclaves of 12 and 25 tyres respectively. However, over the last year,
there is still a possibility that the plant could be revived in the future, although no time lines have been fixed. “We are taking a break for a while, keeping the equipment with us and we might think of starting again if the market scenario improves in the
new AED in
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