ALBATROSS offers a better package

A NEW LEASE ON LIFE

LEASING • ALBATROSS TANK-LEASING IS PROVING THAT THERE IS MORE TO THE LEASING BUSINESS THAN OFFERING TANKS IN BULK AND IT IS LOOKING TO BUILD ON THAT APPROACH

THE BUSINESS OF TANK container leasing should – and can – be more than just moving money around, says Christoph Schoeler, CEO of Willich, Germany-based ALBATROSS Tank-Leasing. This was a belief he developed over a 20-plus year career with Transamerica Leasing and Exsif Worldwide so, when the opportunity to make a change arrived, he grasped it gladly.

ALBATROSS Tank-Leasing was formed to plug a gap in the service network of Sinochem Logistics and from the start was servicedriven. “We wanted to do something useful for the industry,” Schoeler says. “We want to make the customer’s life easier.”

With that mission in mind, ALBATROSS set about building an appropriate fleet of tanks, leasing mainly directly to chemical shippers. That process has continued since the acquisition of Sinochem Logistics by the Junzheng Energy and Chemical Group in July 2019 and its integration into the newly formed Gentco Logistics group.

ALBATROSS Tank-Leasing now has around 10,000 tank containers under its wing, of which some 7,000 are used exclusively in China. The fleet is split roughly 50/50 between standard units and specials: swap tanks, lined, heated and gas tanks, including specialised LNG tanks. Not surprisingly, most of these are Chinese-built, though Schoeler says he is keen to broaden the manufacturing slate and, during the recent surge in ocean freight rates, when it has become very expensive to move an empty tank from China to Europe (not least the 40-foot LNG tanks the company has had delivered recently), ALBATROSS has had some tanks built elsewhere. He has also been talking with Van Hool in Belgium, although any tanks built there will have to be high-specification units.

But then that is what ALBATROSS is about: “If you just want a tank, don’t come to us,” Schoeler says. “Come to us for better tanks!”

PARTNER FOR GROWTH That approach runs right through the organisation. ALBATROSS aims to be a partner to its chemical manufacturer clients. “They need our logistics expertise,” Schoeler explains. “They need dedicated, special tanks – and they need in-house control.” ALBATROSS handles all the tank-related issues, such as fleet management, servicing, testing, repairs and tracking and tracing, and all the shipper has to do is arrange transport - and can choose its provider. “Going to a tank operator does not give that level of control,” Schoeler says.

ALBATROSS has found a lot of interest in its concept, lying somewhere between the ‘traditional’ lessor and the tank operator. The company provides a dedicated structure, with its digitised systems giving the shipper full visibility of their tanks’ location, temperature and other metrics, with alarms when something is out of step.

ALBATROSS MAKES A POINT OF HAVING A WIDE

This is, Schoeler acknowledges, something of a niche market and ALBATROSS focuses very much on local operations, whether in Europe, Russia or India. “We have to be close to our customers to know what they want,” he says. “We are available in the neighbourhood.”

That proximity to the market has shown its value during the pandemic, when planning has been difficult, although Schoeler says some level of normality is coming back into the business.

One growing area is the transport of LNG, something Schoeler says he never thought would happen in Europe. There has been a massive increase in the use of LNG as fuel for heavy goods vehicles, with new filling stations opening up, all of which need to be supplied, as well as an emerging market for LNG as a marine fuel. Supplying filling stations needs to be done by road tanker but there is plenty of work for large tank containers to move bulk volumes from hub to hub. Schoeler says this is “an interesting market”, acknowledging that LNG, as a hydrocarbon, will only be a stepping stone on the way towards the energy transition, though it could be here for another ten or twenty years yet.

Developing a tank container suitable for the transport of cryogenic hydrogen is going to be difficult and that is something that will have to wait awhile. ALBATROSS is currently finding interesting business in movinvg refrigerant gases, though Schoeler says the logistics chain is struggling right now. There is definitely a need for the appropriate transport equipment and that is something that ALBATROSS is only too keen to supply.

Summing up the position of ALBATROSS Tank-Leasing in the market, Schoeler concludes: “We are small – but our concept is very different from a traditional leasing company. The customer can keep control and get the whole package.” ALBATROSS-tanks.de

ALBATROSS CEO CHRISTOPH SCHOELER: “COME TO

US FOR BETTER TANKS”

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TWS has more than 25 years of experience in renting out standard and special tank containers for liquid products to the chemical and food industries. TWS also provides various sizes of spill troughs. Customers rely on the outstanding quality of its fleet and value its flexibility in terms of volume and technical features. For more information: E-mail: tws@tws-gmbh.de and web: www.tws-gmbh.de