Retreading in Poland - Silesia

Retreading Business has built up a reputation of providing snapshots of retreading around the world. We had a bright idea of visiting Poland, as there must surely be something to write about retreading in Poland. There was, and there is, but the reality is that the picture which we give is based on a visit to Silesia - Katowice and Wroclaw in particular. However, it might be reasonable to presume that what holds true in Silesia holds true across Poland.

Poland is a nation whose borders have fluctuated greatly, whose presence has been subject to pressures from the overwhelming economies (and military power) of Russia and Germany for centuries. And today, Poland is for the first time in its history, perhaps, truly benefiting from its position at the geographic centre of Europe. Its transport infrastructure is still being developed, but there is recognition that key arterial routes need to take goods in transit from, as one Pole explained, from Moscow to Madrid and from the Mediterranean in the South to the Baltic in the North.

The road infrastructure still bears the scars of 50 years of communist rule. There are some 424,000 km of roadways in Poland, of which 129,000 remain unpaved, and a mere 765 km are recorded as being expressways. (UK 394,000 km all paved, with 3519 km of expressway) However, slowly roads are being upgraded. road surfaces levelled, widened, straightened, the motorway network is growing. It needs to. Internal transport is hidebound by inadequate road provision.

Turn off any main highway and it doesn't take long before there is a feeling of stepping back 20 years or more. Poland's truck fleet is divided, long haul and regional. The long haul trucks tend to be newer, more modern vehicles, comparable with those of most other EU states. However, its regional transport lags behind in investment terms. The fleets are older, in general, and, in terms of vehicle kilometres the Polish truck fleets have amongst the highest mileage in Europe: third, behind only Germany and Spain. That German figure is skewed by the mileage covered by in house fleets where transport is not the main business. (Figures are from Eurostat).

So Poland has a busy truck fleet, divided in two, and generally older and more hard working than many others. So, in some ways prime for the development of retreading. However, in understanding, perhaps, the role of retreading in Poland, it is important to understand some of the background. Poland, like several other Eastern European states is a country full of enthusiasm. People are busy, they look forward, not back. In real terms, much of Poland's commerce started in 1989 when modern democracy finally took hold of the nation. The freedom to travel, to buy, to sell, to start businesses has seen Poland emerge from the stasis of communism to become a fully fledged and more than able member of modern Europe. Everywhere one looks there are new businesses, people with confidence and enthusiasm and a belief in the future, and increasingly in themselves. That must be the longest preamble into a feature that we have offered in some time.

However, it sets the tone for this fascinating peek at Polish retreading in Silesia. Retreading history in Silesia, Poland Retreading tyres has been around for a long time certainly since the 1940's, perhaps earlier. The past is misted by time, and murkied by conflict. However, the post war period saw retreading functioning as part of the greater socialist plan, though somewhere down the list in terms of importance and sadly quality, not to mention development. So, even in communist days retreading had a bad reputation, and reportedly often struggled even though use was essentially mandated in places. On the fall of communism much of the hardware required to carry out retreading fell into private hands.

There were then, as there are now, good and bad retreaders. However, the predominance of badly retreaded crossply tyres gave the domestic Polish retreader a reputation similar to that which UK retreaders managed to fall into. Retreads gained an unenviable and bad reputation. Time has passed and the market has consolidated to the extent that there are now 28 or so retreaders across Poland, 14 of which still offer car tyre retreads.

Quality is less of an issue but still one where further investment, or simply consolidation around the more professional operations, might be of benefit in the long term. Due to the previously mentioned transport issues, retreading is very much a local or regional business, perhaps more so in Poland than in some more developed areas of the EU. That, combined with the small fleet size, makes it difficult to sell retreads nationally and makes it, in turn, difficult to counter the bad reputation that retreads hold. However, two of the truck tyre operations we visited are doing their very best to overturn the reputation and are producing products that can compare with any others across Europe. The third visit was to car tyre retreader Markgum, the company that bought Colway, lock, stock and barrel and, which is now about to reintroduce the Colway brand to the UK.

(Issue 2011/1)