Unite members at TMD Friction’s Hartlepool brake factory are staging strike action early in 2024 over “low levels of pay being offered by their employer”. Nearly 150 members of the Unite trade union will down tools. An initial wave of five days of action begins on Tuesday 2 January, but the union hasn’t ruled out further strikes.
Groundworks were visibly underway in October 2023, but construction of the new Sentury factory, the first tyre manufacturing plant in Morocco in more than 25 years, will start in the first quarter of 2024. Indeed, Tyres & Accessories has seen a video depicting Sentury chairman Qin Long on-site in Morocco observing progress with the project.
In October 2022, Goodyear announced that the Cooper Tire Europe headquarters and manufacturing operation was set to close around a year later. In November 2023, the land associated with the tyre plant went up for sale in parallel with plans to redevelop the site into residential premises.
Recently, Chinese tyre manufacturer ZC Rubber said it would adjust the product structure of its factory in Qiantang District, Hangzhou. The factory is a new 5G digital factory built by ZC Rubber.
Orion S.A. has celebrated the completion of its first greenfield project – a carbon black plant in eastern China that will supply fast-growing demand in Asia. The facility in the city of Huaibei in Anhui province will produce carbon black for a variety of applications, including rubber, polymers and fibres. The site’s two production lines have a total capacity of 70 kilotons per year.
The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Pirelli Tyre S.P.A signed a joint venture (JV) agreement to build a tyre factory in Saudi Arabia. PIF will hold a 75 per cent stake in the JV with Pirelli holding the remaining 25 per cent and acting as “a strategic technology partner” offering both “technical and commercial assistance”. The plant is expected to start production in 2026.
On 21 October, Sentury said it had officially started constructing its tyre factory in Morocco. On 25 October, the tyremaker said it would add $193 million to its Morocco plant for 6 million semi-radial tyre production capacity. Sentury classified the additional investment as the second phase of the Moroccan tyre factory project. In other words, the total investment in Sentury’s Morocco factory has become US$490 million. After both projects are put into production, it will be able to produce 12 million semi-steel radial tyres annually.
Tyrepress China has learned that the second phase of the Pakistan tyre factory Service Long March (SLM) will be completed and put into production before the end of 2024. The factory is a joint venture between Chaoyang Long March and Pakistan-based Service Industries Limited. Information shows that the total investment in the SLM factory is US$250 million, with Chaoyang Long March accounting for 44 per cent.
Susanna Tusa has been appointed general director and vice president of Nokian Tyres Romania Operations. She will also lead the Oradea, Romania factory project. The factory is scheduled to produce its first tyres in the second half of 2024. Commercial tyre production is set to start in early 2025.
Plans for two Saudi Arabia tyre factory projects were announced during 2022. In January 2022, Black Arrow Tire Company (Blatco) agreed to a tyre factory construction joint venture with Kumho. By June 2022, Kingdom Tyres, which describes itself as Saudi’s largest tyre producer, signed a provisional investment agreement with the Royal Commission for Jubail & Yanbu. Here Tyres & Accessories considers the latest developments with both projects and asks if the market is big enough for both factories?
Roughly a year ago, then relatively-newly appointed Yokohama Europe president Gregorio Borgo, told us that the company has plans to invest in a factory “at the heart of Europe”. 12 months on, Tyres & Accessories once again spoke with Gregorio Borgo as well as Yokohama Europe chairman Hiroyuki Shiori in order to find out how the company’s growth and its interconnected factory plans have been progressing.
Tyrepress China has learned that Chinese tyre manufacturer Haohua is preparing to invest US$500 million to build a tyre factory in Binh Phuoc, Vietnam. The products produced will cover semi-steel radial tyres and all-steel radial tyres.
BKT has recommenced operations at its Bhuj facility in India after shutting down the plant on the evening of 13 June. Production stopped in Bhuj as a precautionary measure related to Cyclone Biparjoy, which hit the Gujarat coast late last Thursday.
Taiwanese tyre manufacturer Hwa Fong Rubber has sold the land and facilities of its subsidiary Hwa Fong Rubber (Suzhou), located in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province, China, to Changshu Economic Development Zone Construction Development Co., Ltd. for 276 million yuan, reports Tyrepress China. The company said the deal could help it save management costs, revitalise assets and enrich working capital. The total size of the land sold is 184,222 square meters, while the facilities cover 110,786.45 square meters. Hwa Fong Rubber will carry out relocation work in the future.
On 22 May, General Tires Technology (Cambodia) held its opening ceremony, which means Jiangsu General’s second overseas production base has officially begun operation. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wentian attended the ceremony and cut the ribbon for the Jiangsu General Cambodia factory.
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Chris Anthony/Tyre Industry Publications Ltd