Having a chat with… Lyon Terminal

Let's meet one of our users: Lyon Terminal, an important multimodal hub in France. Here, reach stackers, electric port cranes and forklifts are busy with moving full containers.

Our world tour chasing for direct testimonials from our users continues. Today, we are heading to France, more precisely to the Lyon Terminal, the most important multimodal hub in the region with rail links across Europe. Here, reach stackers, electric port cranes and forklifts are busy with continuously moving full containers, arriving by train, ship or truck, and reaching a traffic volume of about 187,000 handling operations a year. 

Looking for the best price-quality ratio

In the list of expenses dedicated to the care of the machinery, the item "tires" definitely has a considerable impact. Here's Jean-Marc Lambert, head of vehicle maintenance at the Lyon Terminal, who tells us his story: "At the beginning of 2013, we started looking for a solution to reduce the costs related to tires. We had considered several options, till thanks to our trusted dealer we came across the BKT offer, namely Container King."

For his reach stackers, operating in the smallest area of the terminal, where container movements are limited to 50-100 m, Jean-Marc Lambert has actually chosen Container King, the tire with great resistance and stability, perfect for port handling applications. But let's listen to someone who has who has already put it to the test in the field, or rather in the port: "With the experience I've gained by testing other tires, I'm able to quickly check if there are any problems, and with Container King everything has turned to the best. We can’t compare it to tires previously used because Container King is our first conventional tire. Anyway, compared to radial products from other manufacturers, the saving was 30% on the cost per hour. A really good rate! "

From this remarkable account, it seems that Container King has all the credentials to offer significant savings along with excellent quality to the customers. But there’s much more!

The port of Lyon is a very large site, which has areas that are very different from each other. Likewise, they require different machinery applications. Unlike the more limited area, travel distances in the larger parts are really long, about 1.5 km a day. According to Lambert, there had been no doubts about the purchase of Portmax PM 90, the All Steel radial tires, perfect for inter-modal transport. 

"Pleased with Container King, I wanted to try out other products. In particular, I was looking for a radial tire, since other solutions we’d tried before didn’t satisfy me. I hoped to find, even in this case, an excellent price-quality ratio. The tests started in March and April 2016, and by now, we’ve performed 1,134 testing hours. To assess costs we must wait for the complete use of the tires and then calculate the hourly cost. "

While waiting for the results, promises are good. However, already approved is the absolute comfort of Portmax PM 90, thanks to the high level of safety for the back and the vehicle driver’s health in general.

In short, BKT has made a very positive impression in Lyon: "I'd definitely recommend BKT, because I think it offers premium performance products. Its tires provide safety and excellent comfort, and they  allow to reduce costs thanks to an extended life cycle.” adds Lambert. “We never had any problems like bubbles or separations. This avoids replacing  the tire, which would result in costs for changing the tire and machine downtime. A perfect mix of features that I was right looking for."

And you, have you already tested the BKT tires? Write us your opinion, the next chat may be right at your place!