WHOLE LOTTA TANKS

FLEETS • GROWING DEMAND FOR TANK CONTAINERS MADE 2022 A GOOD YEAR FOR ALL THOSE IN THE BUSINESS, ACCORDING TO ITCO’S LATEST FLEET SURVEY. CAN THOSE GOOD TIMES CONTINUE?

EVER SINCE THE International Tank Container Organisation (ITCO) began collating its annual Global Tank Container Fleet Survey, records seem to tumble every year. This should come as no surprise, as HCB found much the same when it carried out its own annual attempt to put numbers to the anecdotal evidence.

This year, for instance, ITCO reports that the global tank container fleet reached a total of 801,800 units by the start of 2023, up by 8.65 per cent compared to the figure of 737,935 recorded a year earlier; tank manufacturers produced 67,865 units during the year, another record figure and more than 27 per cent higher than in the previous year.

Tank containers are, it seems, in great demand; they have benefitted more than any other mode of transport for liquid cargoes from the disruption to supply chains caused by the rolling Covid-related lockdowns, the war in Ukraine, global recessionary and inflationary pressures, and volatility in end user demand and prices that have all played their part.

For instance, during the height of the Covid pandemic, port and terminal closures in different parts of the world at different times (as well as the closure of the Suez Canal during the Ever Given grounding) caused backlogs into and out of major ports; receivers could not be certain when their next consignment would arrive, prompting them to bring in buffer stocks that, in many cases, were kept in the tank containers in which they arrived. This was good news for tank container operators, who saw their income levels boosted by demurrage payments, and also for manufacturers who enjoyed more confident newbuild orders. Leasing companies also did well, being able to offer operators the tanks they needed at short notice.

WHO’S GOT THE TANKS?

As a result of those trends, the number of tank containers in the fleets of operators (both

GLOBAL TANK CONTAINER FLEET (AT START OF YEAR)

owned and leased in) increased by 28.4 per cent to 568,760; the total fleet owned by lessors increased by 11.8 per cent to 360,925 but the number of tanks on lease to operators, shippers and other interests increased by 14.0 per cent to 323,995 as the number of idle tanks dropped.

Oddly, perhaps, the number tank containers owned and leased by other parties, including shippers/beneficial cargo owners, the military, railway companies and the oil and mining industry, actually fell over the course of 2022. ITCO also offers an estimate of the number of tanks that were scrapped over the year; it suggests an increase over the previous year to 4,000 units, though this is well down on the figures reported a few years earlier. While there are now a lot of older tanks still in operation that might be heading for scrap, the high level of demand seen last year made it viable to keep these tanks working, despite age-related problems and, usually, a higher tare weight compared to newer tanks. It has also become more attractive to remanufacture old tanks, given the high prices of newbuilds at present, reflecting both the level of demand and the price of steel.

This year’s survey, to no great surprise, shows that tank container manufacturing is even more concentrated in China, with CIMC Safeway still accounting for more than half of all new tanks built last year. JJAP doubled production in 2022 to keep up with demand and the other major producers also increased output. Overall, Chinese manufacturers were responsible for just over 90 per cent of new tanks in 2022, though Welfit Oddy in South Africa was also able to take advantage of demand with a 25 per cent increase in output.

In the list of major operators, there are a few moves this year, with Hoyer taking over second spot in the rankings from NewPort, though still well behind the leader, Stolt Tank Containers. Den Hartogh has overtaken Bulkhaul into sixth position in the list but, given its pace of expansion, Malaysia-based E-Way may well leapfrog them both by the time next year’s ITCO survey is produced. Further down the rankings, UK-based Bulk Tainer Logistics has seen a substantial growth in its tank container fleet over the past five

Tank Container Manufacturer Output