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NEWS
Vipal Europe Takes Responsibility for MENA Region
TATKO is Vipal’s key partner in the Caucasus region
Vipal Europe has announced that it has taken over direct responsibility for Vipal’s business in the Middle East, North Africa and Caucasus (MENA) region. The move, which heralds a return to the way Vipal managed the region
North Africa regions under the structure of Vipal Europe and for that, strengthened the commercial team with a person who had previously led this market, and together we grew substantially during these years. In 2016, the figures in these
regions were sustainable enough for a dedicated team, so the IBD decided to change again and of course the aim was to provide better services for all markets. From one side, the European Team would give a better focus into the European market while the MENA team’s role was to explore even more new business and opportunities over these countries.
“Then we had the Asian new cheap tyre invasion,” he continued. “I know ver y well
what happened in the Retread industr y during these years here in Europe, and I still remember, even though not being in charge of MENA anymore, clients shutting down facilities, searching for low price materials and, well, a very hard time to be honest.
“Over the past few years, the IBD has restructured and reviewed its strategies for all markets, deciding to return the MENA market under the European team. It is a large area
Fabricio Nedeff
between 2011-2016, was implemented by the company’s International Business Department (IBD) in mid-2020 but has not yet been able to be fully realised due to Covid restrictions.
Fabricio Nedeff, who handles direct sales in the region together with Leonardo Muller and Alberto Paradinas, explained the reasoning behind the reorganisation.
“In 2011 the IBD had decided to incorporate Middle East and
and to continue our development it is now the right time to do that, although, it is certainly challenging task. Because of the pandemic, we have not yet had the opportunity to travel abroad yet. Very soon we plan to do it, even though, our sales have already grown.”
According to Nedeff, Vipal has a number of retread clients located across the MENA region including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan in the Middle East, and in Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco in North Africa. The company currently has around 15 direct clients in the region, although indirectly it’s much more thanks to the company’s distribution partners across the region. In the Caucasus area, for example, Vipal has worked closely with the TATKO Group as a main
agent/partner for a number of years not only for Vipal’s retread line but for the repair line too. In terms of storage facilities for the MENA region, Vipal uses its European storage facilities as well as TATKO’s facilities in Turkey, although, according to Nedeff, most of the clients prefer to buy full containers from Brazil.
“One of the conditions that Vipal has guaranteed and ensured to the partners in these markets is that there will be no changes in the business relationship at all,” he explained. “That has been our focus despite the pandemic situation we are passing through, and our aim is to maintain conditions to all of them, whilst improving relationships and support, especially in these difficult times.”
VMI Wins Lawsuit Against Safe-Run
In the ongoing legal dispute between VMI Holland B.V. (“VMI”) and Safe-Run Intelligent Equipment Shares Ltd. Co. (“Safe-Run”) on IP infringement and patent hijacking, VMI has won a
significant lawsuit, confirming the malicious intent of Safe-Run. On April 22, 2019, VMI filed a lawsuit against Safe-Run claiming that Safe-Run had abused the Intellectual Property system and the legal system in
China (Abuse of Court). The civil Abuse of Court case was filed at the Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Jiangsu Province. The court issued a positive verdict ruling that Safe- Run knowingly filed and obtained patents on
technology
which was
already
developed by
VMI and
others and
then
maliciously
used these
patents in the
legal fight
against VMI.
Due to the
fact that the
patent was filed and asserted with malicious intent by Safe- Run, a compensation for the losses of VMI has been awarded. Harm Voortman: “This verdict reinforces our faith in the Chinese legal system. We await
the outcome of the other ongoing lawsuits with great confidence. The compensation will be donated to charity.”
12 Retreading Business