Tailor made tank container solutions

Telematics

Telematics solutions for enhanced product traceability and supply chain management.

Sustainable Solutions

Sustainable solutions for reducing the carbon footprint of ISO tank operations.

Fleet Management

Fleet management services for reduced operational costs.

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Fleet info

24/7 Cloud-based accessibility to fleet information and documentation.

Advice

Expert advice on product compatibility.

With more than 30 years experience in ISO container tank leasing, Peacock offers global availability of standard and special ISO tanks for a wide variety of petrochemicals, liquid food products, bitumen, liquefied gases and cryogenic gases.

MAJOR TANK CONTAINER OPERATOR FLEETS (START OF YEAR)

years, while Lanfer Logistik has also seen a significant expansion in its tank fleet in the past two years.

The full list of operators with more than 1,000 tanks in the ITCO survey, includes yet more new names, mainly in Asia and often offering niche services. Perhaps as a result of that, the top ten operators at the start of 2023 accounted for 50.5 per cent of the total number of tanks in operators’ fleets; the comparable figure a year earlier was 54.4 per cent.

Among the leading lessors, sister companies Eurotainer and Raffles Lease would top the rankings were their fleets to be combined but, separately, they still lag some way behind Exsif Worldwide and, in Raffles’ case, also behind Seaco Global and CS Leasing. However, Raffles Lease added nearly 10,000 tanks to its fleet last year, taking it ahead of GATX-owned Trifleet Leasing. Peacock Container has also witnessed substantial growth in its fleet since its acquisition by investment fund manager Arcus Infrastructure Partners and its takeover of GEM Containers in early 2021. The leasing sector is more concentrated than the operator market, with the top ten lessors accounting for some 83 per cent of the total lessorowned fleet.

Take This Model Forward

Optimists in the tank container industry are now looking back at the past three years and hoping that the critical role played by tanks in ensuring that critical products kept moving will have an impact on the next round of contracting. ITCO says that some of its tank operator members do report that they are seeing a greater emphasis on the part of shippers of the value of relationships as a way to ensure a dependable supply of tanks and negotiations are less focused on price. After all, tank containers enabled shippers and receivers to move from the embedded ‘just-in-time’ model to a ‘just-in-case’ approach during the supply chain disruption; this certainly drove more cash into the tank operators’ pockets but the extremely

MAJOR TANK CONTAINER LESSOR FLEETS (START OF YEAR)

high prices being asked (and paid) were more a reflection of the prices being charged (and profits being made) by the liner shipping operators.

There is always talk of switching the balance of power between shippers and carriers; right now, carriers have the upper hand in the chemical tanker market, for example, but those who hope for the same in the tank container business may end up being disappointed – and not for the first time. Large numbers of tanks that had been in use for static storage during the pandemic have been coming back into the market and operators are suddenly finding themselves with a surplus of empty tanks just as recessionary pressures are cutting into volumes. Tank operators and leasing companies – as well as tank depots – are having to work very hard to maximise utilisation.

ITCO’s 2023 Global Tank Container Fleet Survey can be downloaded free of charge from the ITCO website at https://international-tankcontainer.org/storage/uploads/ITCO_2023_ Global_Fleet_Report-1.pdf.