Press Release
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Continental Exceeds SmartWay® Transport
Partnership Goal
 Goal for compliance in EPA program exceeded in first year of partnership
 Continental ships majority of NAFTA tire products via SmartWay® carriers
 Continental also produces SmartWay® verified low rolling resistance truck tires
Fort Mill, South Carolina, August 10, 2009. Continental Tire North America, Inc. (“Continental”)
has officially exceeded its goal of increased compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency’s SmartWay® Transport Partnership in only its first year of participation.
Continental first joined the SmartWay® Transport Partnership in June 2008 as a Shipper
Partner, committing to reduce its environmental impacts from ground freight transportation. In
joining the partnership, Continental agreed to use the Freight Logistics Environmental and
Energy Tracking (FLEET) Performance Model for Shippers to quantify its environmental
performance level. Continental was then required to maintain a score of at least 0.5 within the
FLEET Performance Model.
Continental’s initial goal within the partnership was to achieve a FLEET Performance Model
score of at least 0.95 within three years of joining the SmartWay® Transport Partnership, said
Dominique Lacroix, director of supply chain operations. However, Continental found that at the
end of its first year of partnership, after shipping more than 24 million tires to NAFTA countries,
it had already achieved a score of 1.14 out of a maximum of 1.25. The score was verified by the
EPA in June 2009.
“Exceeding our compliance goal with the SmartWay® Transport Partnership means that
Continental is doing its part to reduce air pollution and the environmental impacts from our
supply chain operations,” Lacroix said.
“We made it a consideration of the carrier selection process that fleets operate as SmartWay®
Transport Carriers when considering bids, and encouraged carriers within our existing base who
were not already a part of the SmartWay® program to join. In doing so, we have achieved our
goal to have the majority of our tire products shipped within these environmentally sensitive
guidelines.”
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Your contact person:
Jackie Pobiega, Phone: 01+704.583.8564
-2Lacroix said Continental makes an effort to spread the word to its carriers about the
environmental impacts of reducing greenhouse gases as part of its corporate social
responsibility principles. Its largest carrier, Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. of Thomasville, N.C.,
joined the SmartWay® Transport Partnership as a Transport Carrier in 2008.
"As a progressive leader in the LTL industry and a SmartWay® partner we considered it our
duty to align ourselves with SmartWay®. The SmartWay® guidelines have given us a path to
follow to improve the efficiency of our fleet while making the environment cleaner for our
customers, employees and their families," said Ed Richardson, Old Dominion Freight Line’s vice
president of equipment and maintenance.
The SmartWay® Transport Partnership aims to save between 3.3 and 6.6 billion gallons of
diesel fuel per year by 2012, which is the equivalent of removing 12 million passenger cars from
the road. In order to achieve this reduction, SmartWay® Transport Carriers pledge to implement
idle reduction strategies, improve aerodynamics, use advanced freight logistics practices,
reduce vehicle and equipment weights, implement driver training and use SmartWay® verified
fuel efficient technologies including wide base and low rolling resistant tires.
Continental complements its goals as a shipper partner as a manufacturer of SmartWay®
verified low rolling resistance tires, including the HSL2® steer tire, the HDL® Eco Plus drive tire
and the HTL® Eco Plus trailer tire. Its new HTL1® super single trailer tire has been submitted to
SmartWay for inclusion on the list of low rolling resistance tires and is awaiting official
verification.
“When you combine Continental’s commitments to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
within our own supply chain with our advances in engineering that produce our low rolling
resistance tires, we are truly proud of our achievements in reducing our environmental footprint,”
said Clif Armstrong, director of commercial vehicle tire marketing for Continental – The
Americas.
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Your contact person:
Jackie Pobiega, Phone: 01+704.583.8564
-3“Our responsibility for minimizing our impact on the environment is an important part of our
corporate values. It extends over the entire lifecycle of a tire, from sourcing our rubber through
renewable raw materials to engineering a more fuel-efficient truck tire product, then using
shipping partners who have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gases and air pollution,”
Armstrong said.
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With sales exceeding €24 billion in 2008, the Continental Corporation is one of the top automotive
suppliers worldwide. As a supplier of brake systems, systems and components for the powertrain and
chassis, instrumentation, infotainment solutions, vehicle electronics, tires and technical elastomers,
the corporation contributes towards enhanced driving safety and protection of the global climate.
Continental is also a competent partner in networked automobile communication. The corporation
currently employs approximately 130,000 at nearly 190 locations in 35 countries.
For more information:
Jackie Pobiega
Media Specialist, Commercial Vehicle Tires
Continental Tire North America, Inc.
1830 MacMillan Park Drive
Fort Mill, SC 29707
Phone: 704-583-8564
Fax: 704-583-8737
E-mail: jackie.pobiega@conti-na.com
Online media database: www.mediacenter.continental-corporation.com
Continental Tire North America Media Site: www.ctnamedia.com
Your contact person:
Jackie Pobiega, Phone: 01+704.583.8564