Bulk Distributor Jan/Feb 19 | Page 9

January/February 2019 Tank Containers B ULK D ISTRIBUTOR 9 Eurotainer goes composite E urotainer has become the latest tank lessor to offer composite tanks to customers. After a thorough analysis of the available composite tank container manufacturers, Eurotainer placed an order and recently took delivery of new 20ft composite barrel tank containers from Omni Tanker of Australia. Eurotainer chose Omni Tanker due to its years of expertise in composites, a superior composite technology and a willingness to work with Eurotainer to build tank containers that meet the needs of its client base. In turn, Omni Tanker was looking for a leasing company that could help it expand globally. Omni and Eurotainer are now working together to provide a product that offers a lightweight alternative to lined/coated steel tanks. Omni Tanker is one of the world’s leading composite technology and manufacturing companies. It owns proprietary composite materials technology, applied to the manufacture of high technology composite tanks with exceptional chemical resistance and low tare weight for bulk transportation of corrosive and high purity chemicals. It is these two primary attributes that separate Omni Tanker from the competition, said Eurotainer, and makes its product the perfect choice. “The ability to offer clients a safe, lightweight, durable, easy-to- clean and versatile composite tank container has been a goal of Eurotainer for some time,” the lessor stated. “Omni Tanker has delivered with breakthrough technology that will transform the tank container industry – a perfect fit for Eurotainer’s vision and commitment to provide innovative high purity and corrosive chemical tank container equipment to its global customer base.” The selection of Omni Tanker is in line with Eurotainer’s strategy to be the global leader in specialised tank containers. The lessor unveiled and introduce the new composite tanks at a customer technical day event in Houston, Texas, USA. In other news, Eurotainer announced that business growth in China has driven a move to a larger office in Shanghai. On 2 November last year, an opening ceremony took place to celebrate the expanded office space in the lessor’s current building with customers and partners from the Shanghai area who joined the firm’s Chinese team to celebrate the event. Innovation was a keyword for this move, as it was decided to implement new concepts such as a green wall, plants and an air purification system. www.eurotainer.com VTG up V TG’s tank container logistics division saw its revenue increase by 6.7 percent to €124.9 million in the first nine months of 2018. Healthy capacity utilisation in Europe’s chemical industry in particular pushed up the volume of transports. At the same time, intercontinental traffic to and from Asia experienced pleasing development, while traffic in North America decreased. After nine months of the fiscal year, EBITDA of €5.1 million was 38.4 percent down on the previous year’s figure of €8.3 million. The decline was attributable primarily to shifts in overseas transport flows, which drove up costs by leaving equipment underused, raising demurrage and adding to expenses for empty tank positioning. In addition, bottlenecks in road haulage and in the rail infrastructure in Europe also drove up demurrage and freight costs. To accommodate these extra costs, accruals for transport costs for the first nine months were increased by €3.4 million in the third quarter. In the period under review, this caused the EBITDA margin to decline by 7.7 percentage points to 29.3 percent. Eurotainer’s Omni Tanker composite tank was unveiled at a customer technical day in Houston