02/21/2008 Hanover, February 2008. Industrial tires from Continental play an integral part of the transportation job in the international exchange of goods. At the port of Rotterdam the Conti SC15 is a safe and extremely robust partner for the hard, long days with empty containers

The worldwide transport of goods is conducted mostly within containers, which are carried by trucks over land after they have been unloaded from ships. Large numbers of these containers can be found in the port of Rotterdam, one of the largest and most important hubs in Europe for all kinds of goods.

Kramer Group is a container specialist based at the port of Rotterdam. Founded in 1967, the 75 person company stores and repairs empty containers. Except for Christmas, Kramer is at work 24 hours a day, seven days a week in five shifts. Around 300 container movements per day, adds up to over 100,000 each year. The “Empty Stackers”, or the “Empties”, for short, lift and stack 20- and 40-foot long containers. Their grippers clamp the empty containers around the side, lift them from the trucks and stack them up to 20 meters high, equivalent to the height of seven containers. Since two 40-foot containers weigh around six tons, the vehicle tires need to ensure stability.

For their application, Kramer uses exclusively Conti SC15 in the dimension 14.00 – 24. “We have nine Empties in use with which the Conti SC15 has proven itself against the competition thanks to its robustness, stability and economic benefits,” says Kees Hendrickx, Supervisor at Kramer. Here the tires are subjected to extreme loads: The dual-wheel front drive axle bears the main weight when transporting containers. The rear wheels grind on the spot when turned to an extreme angle ,. Additionally, the entire vehicle weight and counterweight rests on the rear wheels when it is unloaded “We deliver tires to Kramer for their empties stackers on a regular basis,” says Kees Kreikamp, head of sales at Continental Banden Group B.V. from Barneveld. “This customer has had superb experiences with our SC15 compared with other products.” Kramer is therefore an important client for Continental.

Continental is the only tire manufacturer to supply a comprehensive range
of industrial tires, making it the No. 1 in Germany and Europe, and one of
the top three worldwide.

With annual sales of more than ¤25 billion (based on 2006 figures), the
Continental Corporation is one of the top five automotive suppliers
worldwide. As a supplier of brake systems, systems and compo­nents for the
powertrain and chassis, instrumentation, infotainment solutions, vehicle
electronics, tires and technical elastomers, the corporation contributes
towards enhanced driving safety and protection of the global climate.
Continental is also a competent partner in networked automobile
communication. The corporation currently employs approximately 150,000 at
nearly 200 locations in 36 countries.

The tyre divisions are an Official Sponsor of UEFA EURO 2008TM, which will
be held in Austria and Switzerland in June 2008. For further details, visit
the websites www.ContiSoccerWorld.de, www.ContiFanWorld.com and
www.conti-online.com.