Viewpoints: Vacu-Lug director on TBR tariffs  

Birmingham, UK – The EU's imposition of tariffs on Chinese truck & bus tires will benefit UK retreaders, but could also cause issues in the market, believes Dave Alsop, fleet sales director at Vacu-Lug Traction Tyres Ltd.

On the retreads side of the business, Alsop saw clear benefits, Outside of Vacu-Lug’s contract portfolio, he said, sales of tires had declined over recent years. due to the availability of very cheap Chinese imports.

“It is good news that the levies are going to be implemented as far as we are concerned as a retreader,” Alsop said in an interview with ERJ at the recent CV Show in Birmingham.

Alsop cautioned, though, that the imposition of tariffs on Chinese tires “could also cause a few problems with supply as other new manufacturers will not be able to meet demand.”

Grantham, UK-based Vacu-Lug is also an importer of Chinese brand Westlake truck tires and van tires from China – as well as of Yokohama truck and earthmover tires.

However, the fleet sales director said it was too early to comment on the impact of EU tariffs on this side of the business.

Alsop went on to point out that Vacu-Lug’s core business today is management of tires for fleets: looking after some 30,000 assets throughout the UK.

“We went down the fleet management route,” he explained. “One of the reasons is that as we were involved in fleet contracts managing tires and looking after from cradle to grave, we also influence what products we put on the vehicles.”