New Facility Ensures Room for Growth at Inter-Sprint

The largest importer and exporter of passenger car tyres in Europe is Inter-Sprint. The Dutch company has approximately 250 permanent employees and growth in recent years had made the construction of a second premises in the town of Moerdijk necessary – the original site at Heinenoord, near Rotterdam, lacked sufficient space for adequate expansion. At the new site Inter-Sprint has the room it needs to develop a brand new 68,000 square metre facility, which it will do in phases. Significant extensions are planned for 2009.

Inter-Sprint is able to offer its customers a huge range of products that includes the major ‘A’ brands plus numerous private labels, including Milestone, Euro Tyfoon, Mastersteel, Roadhog and Meteor. The company also stocks a number of exclusive labels, amongst them the Viking brand of summer and winter pcr and lcv tyres, produced by Continental and exclusively distributed by Inter-Sprint in the Netherlands and several other European markets.

At the Reifen Essen show Inter-Sprint also displayed numerous truck tyre products, including the Double Coin range, which it has distributed in Europe, excluding the UK and Ireland, for almost two years (in these markets the range is distributed by Kirkby Tyres). Inter-Sprint representatives report that for 2008 six new line profile and traction profile additions are being made to the Double Coin truck range. New additions have also been made to the Double Coin OTR tyre range, which Inter-Sprint distributes in most European markets. Three new sizes – 2400R35, 35/65R33 and 2700R49 – join the range in 2008.

The company operates its own fleet or trailers, which it operates efficiently by ensuring the trailers are seldom empty – 80 per cent of trucks return to the Inter-Sprint facilities carrying tyres purchased because, as a company representative commented, driving home empty is a waste of money and increases transport costs. Inter-Sprint’s warehouses have capacity for around two million tyres, and deliveries to the UK are made weekly. Deliveries to some European markets are made daily and even, as is the case in the Netherlands, several times a day.