May/June 2019
B ULK D ISTRIBUTOR
Depot Services
21
Gröninger helps Filzhut’s next steps Quala buys
Container
Experts
A
fter leveraging its experience gained
over 60 years in transport, Spedition
Paul Filzhut decided to start a tank container
terminal and cleaning station in Port of
Neuss, Germany.
The company will operate under the name
CoTaLo (Container-Tank-Logistics ) GmbH.
The family-led company first entered the chemical
industry in the late 1950s as a tank truck transport
service company. This branch of the company was
led successfully for more than 40 years, and having
garnered this expertise the Filzhut family decided to
expand and take the next step in its business.
Towards the end of 2018 the goal was set to
open a container depot in Neuss, allowing tank
operators to deposit their tanks at a location
connected via rail, water and road. On top of this it
is located close to the Ruhr area, a hub for
transport and logistics in Western Germany.
The second part of the development, the cleaning
station, will be completed in August this year and
will be equipped with a system from Gröninger
Cleaning Systems BV. The facility will have three
cleaning lanes for chemical products and two lanes
for food products.
All five lanes work with a cleaning pressure of
100 bar and for hard chemicals a special location
will work with a pressure up to 200 bar. Every
cleaning can be adjusted to include hot water,
steam, or acids depending on what the product
requires or the customer wishes.
The cleaning procedures in the food area will be
performed up to the standards to the Cleaning
Guard system, meaning that all containers and
tank trucks cleaned will receive a certificate that
describes all properties of the cleaning.
In addition to ‘standard cleaning’ of containers
and tank trucks, it will be possible to clean tougher
products such as latex and resins. To complete the
Q
dedicated for cleaning road tankers. Two tanks can
be cleaned at the same time. Multiple rotor jets per
bay ensure a fast turnaround time for containers
and tankers. After cleaning, a Gröninger Drypack
makes sure there is no moisture left over so the
container can be shipped and loaded immediately.
The equipment was prefabricated and shipped in
a 20ft container. This allowed Gröninger to reduce
the local installation time. Apart from the actual
installation, the company’s engineer put a lot of
effort in training the cleaners in how to operate
and maintain the system.
Standard procedures for various residuals are
stored in the PLC. By selecting the program, the
tank is being cleaned automatically. uala has bought Container Experts,
a company specialising in IBC
cleaning with locations in Houston,
Texas, Lafayette Louisiana, and Niles,
Ohio.
Quala is recognised as a Clean Solutions
partner by its customers throughout North
America. In 2018, the company cleaned
more than 600,000 bulk containers.
These three state-of-the-art facilities
added to the company’s North American
network brings the total number of IBC
cleaning and maintenance service locations
to 73.
Scott Harrison, Quala’s CEO, stated:
“Adding Container Experts’ base of clients is
the perfect growth catalyst for Quala. This
acquisition aligns perfectly with our mission
to improve, develop, and grow.”
William Dworsky, Container Experts’
president, added: “Everyone here at
Container Experts is very excited about
joining the Quala team. There’s no doubt
that our customers will benefit from Quala’s
network of nationwide terminals. From a
logistics standpoint, our customers will save
on transport costs which is fantastic.”
Financing was provided by PSP Investments
Credit USA LLC, Antares, Carlyle Direct
Lending, and Madison Capital Funding LLC.
https://groninger.eu www.quala.us.com
Filzhut’s cleaning station in Neuss will be completed in August this year and will be equipped with a system from Gröninger Cleaning Systems
service there will also be capabilities for cleaning
IBCs. Once all operations are up and running the
capacity will be around 20,000 a year.
Further in the future it is planned to incorporate
the ‘1 to be 1’ communications system to ease the
entire process, starting with the booking of a
cleaning slot and ending at the customer being
able to see when the cleaning will be completed.
Gröninger also recently supplied a cleaning
system in India. Bayarea is run by Captain Navjit
Singh Grewal and his son Inderneil Grewal. By
installing a state of the art cleaning system, Bayarea
has become one of India’s leading tank container
service providers.
The facility is located in the city of Surat in
Gujarat state. Tank containers can be cleaned on
four static positions. A fifth drive-through bay is