Continental brings smart tyre tech to Port of Tilbury fleet

The Port of Tilbury has turned to Continental’s connected tyre system to keep its cranes, reach-stackers, forklifts and straddle carriers rolling. With more than 500 tyres in service every day, the Essex gateway needed a data-driven way to control costs, improve safety and support its carbon-reduction plan.

Smart tyre programme for heavy port equipment

• Continental StraddleMaster tyres now cover the port’s mixed fleet, chosen for their low rolling resistance and high load rating.
• Condition data flows from in-tyre sensors to ContiConnect and ContiPressureCheck platforms, providing temperature and pressure alerts within minutes of a fault.

Real-time insights shape maintenance

Three YardReader stations positioned around the terminal automatically harvest sensor data as each vehicle passes. The port’s engineers receive live dashboards on site and remotely, allowing them to:

• spot pressure loss or overheating before damage occurs
• plan tyre changes during scheduled service windows
• reduce unexpected stoppages, downtime has already dropped by an estimated 20 %.

Halfords Commercial Fleet Services handles inspections and call-outs, holding pre-agreed stock at the port so vessels and freight movements are not delayed.

Fuel and emissions impact

Continental reports that StraddleMaster’s tread and casing design can lower rolling resistance by up to 30 % compared with the tyres previously fitted. Early fuel-use figures shared by the port back up those savings, supporting its goal of trimming Scope 1 emissions from non-road mobile machinery.

Production with a lower carbon footprint

The tyres supplied to Tilbury come from Continental’s ISCC PLUS-certified Lousado plant in Portugal, which now runs on renewable electricity. This aligns with the port’s wider sustainability roadmap, including shore-power trials and electrified yard vehicles.

Ports worldwide are under pressure to shave minutes off turnaround times while meeting tougher environmental targets. Tilbury’s decision to combine low-rolling-resistance tyres with continuous sensor feedback shows how incremental gains, fuel, uptime, planned maintenance add up to measurable CO₂ and cost reductions. Similar connected-tyre roll-outs are expected across container terminals, airports and distribution hubs as heavy-equipment operators pursue real-time condition monitoring and predictive maintenance.

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Tagged with: Port of Tilbury, Continental, smart tyres, ContiConnect, tyre sensors, predictive maintenance, low rolling resistance, port logistics, UK ports

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