Tatneft’s Kazakhstan tyre logistics centre

You might not think of Kazakhstan as a centre of the international tyre industry and – on a global scale – it isn’t. However, in light of renewed reports of factory investment from Indonesian-based Multistrada as well as the historical context of Nokian’s ill-fated joint-venture there it is worth reporting a little of what else is going on in the country.

At the end of the first quarter of 2014, Tatneft announced that it had opened the Kama-Kazakhstan Trade House. According to the company the centre is the first of its kind in the Republic of Kazakhstan. What sets this facility apart and puts it on and international and potentially even a global level (depending of the level of technology deployed and the scale of the operation) is that it is described as an “automated tyre logistics centre”. Of course the focus is on the sale and servicing of tyres, but it is the word “automated” that is of interest here.

The scale would seem to contradict assumptions that this facility is of a global nature. While the warehouse complex is reportedly furnished with modern equipment and software, capacity comes in at simultaneous storage of 25,000 truck tyres and 60,000 passenger car tyres. Throughput capacity is reported as up to 1.5 million tyres per month.

According to the Tatneft, the centre will deal with tyres produced by the company’s Nizhnekamsk tyre Complex in the Astana Free Economic Zone. However, the door has been left open for cooperation with other tyre makers/wholesalers as well: “Now large companies having a branch network may cover tyre demand throughout Kazakhstan under a single contract.”

In any case the tyre logistics complex is said to offer customers: transport accessibility, a wide range of products, prompt shipment, possibility of a preliminary order placement and reduction of costs for warehousing.