Letter from the Editor

EDITOR’S LETTER

The first time I moved house as an adult, I had two black bin liners and a suitcase; I moved on the bus. The second time I had a friend help me, and we moved everything on the back seat of his Mini.

I’ve just moved house again – and I hope it’s for the last time. It took several weeks to get the old house organised, with several trips to the tip and charity shops. It took six men two whole days to move everything from one house to the next. And there are still boxes waiting to be unpacked.

Life is, in one respect, a long process of accumulating stuff. It will all have to go in the end, of course, but not just yet. Perhaps younger generations will not have the same need for accumulation; they stream music rather than buying it in hard copy, and watch subscription TV rather than buying DVDs. That shift has happened in the office: we no longer have filing cabinets full of company annual reports and press releases as it’s all available online. But there were boxes and boxes of CDs, LPs and books involved in my latest move.

If life is a matter of accumulating stuff, it’s also a matter of accumulating knowledge and experience; and while knowledge is available online – and it’s certainly useful to have Google and Wikipedia on hand when checking details – experience and the understanding that comes with it are not.

When I was a young man, moving my life in a small car, my lack of possessions was matched by a lack of awareness, and a poor understanding of how other people and the world at large actually behave. Awareness and understanding eventually arrived as a result of living in that world and interacting with people; the process ran alongside the acquisition of stuff but was not a result of it. I hope that awareness and understanding have helped me do my job better as I’ve got older.

Some time in the next few years I will eventually hang up my notebook and do something different for the rest of my life; my counterpart at the German magazine Gefährliche Ladung, Uwe Heins, is doing just that this month and I wish him a long and happy retirement. I am confident that his publisher has put in place a succession plan, as a lot of knowledge and understanding will be retiring with him.

The same goes for all companies and especially those active in the world of dangerous goods transport, where it can take a long time to build up all the arcane knowledge and a useful network of fellow professionals.

I spoke about this some weeks ago in my regular ‘Thoughts’ piece on HCB TV. (If you missed it you can catch up with all episodes via HCB’s YouTube channel.) I had several responses to that piece, one of which reminded me that it is not just companies that run the risk of losing experience when their senior staff retire – it applies just as much to the regulatory authorities. We have lost some good people from those ranks in recent years.

Book learning and following written procedures are useful but will never give you the full story. Take time to learn from the old heads in the office while they’re still here.

CONTENTS

VOLUME 40 • NUMBER 05

UP FRONT Letter from the Editor 30 Years Ago Learning by Training 01 04 05

STORAGE TERMINALS Construction kit Annual terminal expansion survey 07 Attracted to tanks Reporting back from StocExpo 18 Out with the old Vopak sells on strategy switch 23 Come together Inter and NuStar get integrated 24 Picture perfect Eddyfi improves graphics 26 No entry Robotic inspection with Re-Gen 27 View from the Top OPW’s Dave Morrow 28 News bulletin – storage terminals 30

TANKS & LOGISTICS Up we go again ITCO reports further fleet growth 33 Let’s talk tanks John Sutton talks to HCB 39 Electric ideas LogiChem leads on digitisation 42

Shining example Chemical Express leads on CSR 49 Decades of success 50 years of Kombiverkehr 50 The better route RTChem pushes rail advantages 52 Different and complicated Thielmann designs your tank 55 Decontamination zone Schütz keeps contents clean 58 News bulletin – tanks and logistics 61

DIGITISATION Parents of the revolution Pöyry argues for digital readiness 64 Open all hours E+H leads open source solutions 66 Business value Fleetmonitor offers problem solving 68 Over to Android Touchstar switches platforms 72 Trust and verify Transplace adds risk assessment 74 Data trail Hupac leverages Nexiot systems 75

CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTION Annual dialogues Looking forward to Fecc Congress 78 Expect the worst CBA reports short-term uplift 80 Be prepared GPCA catches up with digitisation 82 News bulletin – chemical distribution 86

COURSES & CONFERENCES Training courses Conference diary

SAFETY Incident Log 92

Tools for the job Exis aims to curb container fires 94

REGULATIONS Yes and no Final decisions from the UN experts 98 The new orange Main changes in the Model Regulations 106 Snap to it US falls in line with lithium batteries 111

BACK PAGE Not otherwise specified 112

NEXT MONTH Annual LPG tanker fleet review Focus on tank container manufacturing FIBC special report Latest equipment for tanks

Editor–in–Chief Peter Mackay Email: peter.mackay@hcblive.com Tel: +44 (0) 7769 685 085

Deputy Editor Alex Roberts Email: alex.roberts@hcblive.com Tel: +44 (0) 208 371 4035 Commercial Director Ben Newall Email: ben.newall@hcblive.com Tel: +44 (0) 208 371 4036

Campaigns Director Craig Vye Email: craig.vye@hcblive.com Tel: +44 (0) 20 8371 4014

Head of Operations Sam Hearne Email: sam.hearne@hcblive.com Tel: +44 (0) 208 371 4041 Production Manager Jodie Oliver Email: jodie.oliver@hcblive.com Tel: +44(0)208 371 4048 Managing Editor Stephen Mitchell Email: stephen.mitchell@hcblive.com Tel: +44 (0) 20 8371 4045

Designer Natalie Clay

HCB Monthly is published by Cargo Media 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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