Marangoni Marix retreads for reach stackers

In the industrial handling sector, the choice of an OTR tyre represents a significant and fundamental investment, as the aim is not only to guarantee efficient portside and intermodal operations and ensure high levels of quality and reliability – a further goal is to meet an increasingly important requirement amongst many companies operating in this sector, reduced operating costs.

The importance of this decision has represented a major challenge for the Marangoni earthmover division over the past few years, and it has responded with a commitment to perfecting and increasingly expanding the Marix retreaded tyre range for this specific market segment. Marix products for container handling and other industrial uses (ports, transport hubs, steel mills and ironworks, to name but a few) have been developed to move heavy loads, and Marangoni says the line-up is made up of products that can “offer excellent stability, long life and low hourly costs, thanks to the special compounds used.”

The installation of a new-generation Banbury mixer at Marangoni’s Rovereto plant in Italy last year, together with the company’s expertise in research and development, has reportedly led to the production of higher-quality compounds that are more competitive, even in the most heavy-duty applications. These compounds, adds Marangoni, combine “excellent resistance to abrasion with low heat generation.” Moreover, the use of shearographic technology facilitates a further improvement in the quality standards (which, says Marangoni, were already high) of tyres retreaded for industrial handling.

The Italian firm considers the Marix MRL profile one of the most important products in this range: this tread is fitted on the reach stackers operated by the Sech Group at the container terminal in the Port of Genoa. MRL is a non-directional profile, specifically designed for retreading the 18.00×25 and 18.00×33 radial and cross-ply casings of premium brand industrial tyres; Marangoni says the objective with the MRL is to ensure greater reliability and longer life, even when the sides of the casing are subjected to significant stress and strong twisting forces are thus exerted on the structure of the tyre.

The MRL pattern, in size 18.00-25, is fitted on the front axles of the Sech Group reach stackers and has achieved operating times of 2,300 hours, bringing considerable savings in hourly costs when compared to a similar premium brand new tyre fitted on the same axle of the same vehicle. “The sturdiness and stability of this tyre, together with the productivity achieved, make it very appealing to operators: container handling, above all when loading and unloading ships, typically requires very fast working times,” comments Marangoni.

The MS D1/D2, on the other hand, are the Marangoni Marix retreaded industrial handling tyres chosen by two UK-based companies, PD Logistics (a division of the PD Ports Group) and Eldapoint Ltd, for their reach stackers. The tyres are used by PD Logistics to load the steel produced at the Redbourn works into containers and then finally onto trains and trucks, while Eldapoint uses the same tread on its reach stackers that handle the containers it constructs and repairs. Marangoni shares that “this non-directional tread ensures users excellent hourly performance, stability, driving comfort and resistance to abrasion, consequently meaning minimal damage from impacts that can cause expensive machinery downtime.”

The retreading specialist adds: “The high-quality and customer-oriented retreading process adopted by Marangoni for the Marix tyres ensures excellent performance levels, when compared to those of premium-brand new tyres, guaranteeing considerable reductions in hourly costs and representing the best possible response to the market needs for efficiency and cost savings.”