6
BULKDISTRIBUTOR
Tank Containers
January/February 2016
A positive story from Tianjin
T
he catastrophic explosions and subsequent fire in China’s
port of Tianjin last August raised the question of port
governance and safety in world ports.
However, in his end of year message to members of the Asian Tank
Container Organisation (@tco), the president Reginald Lee had a
surprising take on the events to recount.
On 5 November, Lee and technical director Graham Wood were
invited to give a presentation to the logistics sub-committee of the
China-based Association of International Chemical Manufacturers
(AICM) held in the offices of Bayer Material Science in Shanghai.
This presentation included three photos which were taken after the
Tianjin disaster. The photos showed that three tank containers had
been exposed to extreme heat which completely melted the
aluminium walkways as well as distorting all the carbon steel frame
work. Once the tanks had been lifted from the wreckage and they
were taken to a nearby yard where they were inspected.
However, as Lee says, he and Wood “were amazed to find that the
product was still in the tanks and had not leaked. Although the
product inside had been badly damaged by the intense heat, the
tank shell had not leaked.”
The previous day @tco held its Board meeting in the offices of
Hoyer in Shanghai. Among the topics discussed by the Board was an
agreement to continue the support for the annual Intermodal Asia
2016 exhibition which is being held in Shanghai on 22-24 March.
In the afternoon of 4
On the other hand a
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