Letter from the Editor

EDITOR’S LETTER

Way back in the 20th century, when I first climbed the wooden stairs up to HCB’s poky office in Covent Garden in the middle of London, little did I expect that nearly 30 years later I would be the last of the gang to still be working on the title. Nor, indeed, did I expect that there would be a change of ownership just six months later and that we would be decamped first to the badlands of Nine Elms and then later to the relative comfort of Victoria.

Then there was another change of ownership and we moved again to Informa’s extensive office space near Old Street, where we joined up with other publications in the maritime and freight transport areas. That lasted for more than a decade before a round of rationalisation led to HCB being sold to me, which presented me with what can only be described as a ‘steep learning curve’. It was a thrilling, worrying, challenging time that ultimately failed through a lack of investment, so I sold the title to a contract publishing outfit in Finchley, north London, who were looking to expand into the B2B space.

Throughout this history, HCB’s various owners have often struggled to understand how to position the brand, how it fits in with the broader transport sector and what our loyal readers expect from us. Who are those readers and what do they want? How do we reach potential readers in similar situations? And always – perhaps most importantly – how can we make more money from the title?

Writing this now in October 2021, I can report that HCB has once more changed hands and I have plenty of reasons to believe we may at last have found a home where we will be understood. We have been acquired by Enhesa, a Brussels-based provider of comprehensive EHS and product compliance intelligence, and positioned alongside Chemical Watch, which Enhesa acquired in December last year.

I expect many HCB readers will be aware of Chemical Watch, which is aimed at those compliance professionals managing chemicals under regulatory regimes such as GHS, REACH, CLP, OSHA, US EPA and their counterparts around the world. I’m also aware that many of those compliance professionals have similar responsibilities under the various regulations for the transport of dangerous goods, so are a natural bank of readers for HCB.

Clearly there are synergies between the two. As Peter Schramme, CEO of Enhesa, says, “HCB’s global coverage and regulatory expertise dovetails with our existing operational and product compliance brands and in particular complementing and adding to Chemical Watch’s news coverage of the product life-cycle, product compliance and chemicals management.”

As HCB becomes more integrated into the Chemical Watch platform over the coming months, I expect those synergies to improve our coverage of transport regulations, especially in Asia and in emerging markets around the world. We will be focusing more tightly on regulatory development and on technical innovations that can help improve safety in the transport chain.

For now, though, it is ‘business as usual’ as we continue to deliver the coverage that our readers expect. But if you have ideas as to how we can improve our service to the regulated industries, feel free to get in touch with me on my new email address: peter.mackay@chemicalwatch.com.

CONTENTS

VOLUME 42 • NUMBER 10

UP FRONT Letter from the Editor

30 Years Ago Learning by Training 01

04

05

TANKS & LOGISTICS Reimagine that EPCA looks at the transformation 07 A new lease on life ALBATROSS offers a better package 14 A family affair Van den Bosch buys TCS Trans 16 Coral symphony Essers buys in Spain 19 Well on the way Bertschi ahead of the sustainability game 20 Set the oven Temperature control with Savvy 22 Tear down the walls Nexxiot aids visibility 24 Open shop Pelican launches customer portal 25 Innovation on tap New equipment from Perolo 26 Don’t get cross Civacon avoids cross-drops 28 News bulletin – tanks and logistics 30 TANKER SHIPPING To the cleaners Clean Sea takes over Marinvest

Green Danube Chemgas has hydrogen plans Built to fit Exmar trials new containment

Through the shallows HGK builds for BASF

News bulletin – tanker shipping 32

33

34

35

36

INDUSTRIAL PACKAGING Keep up the pressure Fort Vale innovates IBC valve 38 News bulletin – industrial packaging 39

CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTION Bad all over CBA reports worsening market 40

Gateway to Asia Biesterfeld buys in Singapore 41 News bulletin – chemical distribution 42

COURSES & CONFERENCES Conference diary The future works DG Online Training recognised 45

46 SAFETY Incident Log Assault on batteries IATA launches CEIV LiBa

Well grounded Newson Gale advises on static

Fire in the belly Qatar Airways renews ULDs News bulletin – safety

REGULATIONS A slow burn UN experts get back to work

BACK PAGE Not otherwise specified

NEXT MONTH LPG tanker fleet review Developments in chemical distribution More from the EPCA Annual Meeting Looking ahead to 2023’s regulations

Managing Editor Peter Mackay, dgsa Email: peter.mackay@chemicalwatch.com Tel: +44 (0) 7769 685 085

Advertising sales Sarah Smith Email: sarah.smith@chemicalwatch.com Tel: +44 (0) 203 603 2113

Publishing Manager Sarah Thompson Email: sarah.thompson@chemicalwatch.com Tel: +44 (0) 20 3603 2103 Publishing Assistant Francesca Cotton

Senior Designer Harrison Tanner

Chief Operating Officer Stuart Foxon

Chief Commercial Officer Richard Butterworth CW Research Ltd Talbot House Market Street Shrewsbury SY1 1LG ISSN 2059-5735 www.hcblive.com

HCB Monthly is published by CW Research Ltd. While the information and articles in HCB are published in good faith and every effort is made to check accuracy, readers should verify facts and statements directly with official sources before acting upon them, as the publisher can accept no responsibility in this respect.

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