Letter from the Editor

EDITOR’S LETTER

Over my time at HCB – more than 25 years now – I have had to introduce any number of new recruits to the wonderful world of dangerous goods and what we do to help industry keep up to date. Even for people who have worked in trade journalism before, HCB offers a different perspective: not only do we deal with a comparatively complex aspect of the supply chain, we also look at the end-to-end journey of products from the manufacturer to the end user.

In our terms, we cover a vertical. That is in sharp contrast to most other trade titles, which cover horizontals: trucking magazines cover trucking, whatever the cargo; air publications cover air transport, not just dangerous goods; the big maritime press deals with all manner of topics of interest to the sector. On the other hand, we deal with all of these sectors, and more, but only from the point of view of the transport, storage and handling of dangerous goods.

That approach brings us into contact with a lot of different industrial sectors, although our coverage of them is much the same: what are they doing to improve safety and regulatory compliance, what new products and services have they developed and, at least for the larger companies, how is this translating into their financial results.

Bearing in mind that I have reported on that through several business cycles now, including the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2008 crash, it has often been noticeable how bulk liquids storage terminals have managed to sail through the ups and downs relatively serenely, often only reporting a blip in earnings just as things begin to pick up and cargo owners draw down their stocks.

Things have been different over the past year or so. Terminal operators are facing many of the same macro-economic and geopolitical factors as other players in the chain, not least the changing product flows as new material is stemming from producers in cost-advantaged locations in North America and the Middle East, and more recently growing political tensions and expanding trade wars and sanctions.

Terminal operators are also being disproportionately affected by the ‘IMO 2020’ rule on the sulphur content of marine bunker fuels, which is forcing many companies to take tanks out of service for modification in anticipation of having to handle a larger number of grades.

Further ahead there will be the phasing out of hydrocarbonbased fuels, with 2050 emerging as the favoured year for a carbonneutral future. This will inevitably affect many terminals quite fundamentally but, as we are beginning to hear, there are other carbon-neutral and carbon-free options that might offer alternative cargoes for terminals. This month we report on Vopak’s investment in a project to deliver hydrogen in the form of a liquid fuel, using an organic carrier, that would fit seamlessly into the existing bulk chemical supply chain; work is also going on to develop viable e-fuels, using electrolysis powered by renewable electricity to generate liquid fuels.

These topics will doubtless be on the minds of terminal operators as they gather for the big autumn events: Tank Storage Asia in Singapore and the UK Tank Storage Association annual conference both take place this month, with the EPCA Annual Meeting just a couple of weeks later. By the end of all that we may have a better idea of where we’re going.

CONTENTS

VOLUME 40 • NUMBER 09

UP FRONT Letter from the Editor

30 Years Ago Learning by Training The View from the Porch Swing 01

04

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06

STORAGE TERMINALS On the up Vopak improves results Workin’ in Antwerpen NNOAT continues to grow Going glocal Adnoc buys into VTTI 08

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11

Sky blue thinking TSA returns to Coventry 14

Steady eddy Viking adds SLOFEC 18

Singapore swing Looking ahead to Tank Storage Asia 19 News bulletin – storage terminals 22

DG BY AIR Head in the clouds Qatar Airways gets it right Airborne solutions

24 Lufthansa takes care of cargo The Belgian hub Coastair builds out Liège base Boxing clever Biocair’s pharma packagings 26

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CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTION Reaching further Brenntag carries on buying Looking good IMCD confident for 2019 30

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Fortune tellers CBA askes its members’ opinions 33

TANKS & LOGISTICS Uncommon carrier Delivering hydrogen in liquids 34

Sealed for quality VSP gaskets for tank containers 36 News bulletin – tanks and logistics 37

COURSES & CONFERENCES Training courses 42

Formula for success Channoil brings training to Malta 44 Conference Diary 46 Material gathering Looking ahead to Contamination Expo 48

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

Commercial Director Ben Newall Email: ben.newall@hcblive.com Tel: +44 (0) 208 371 4036 Production Manager Binita Wilton Email: binita.wilton@hcblive.com Tel: +44(0)208 371 4048

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. SAFETY Incident Log 49

The more the merrier APRC builds Asian response capacity 52 Always watching CCTV as a loss prevention tool 54 News bulletin – safety 55

REGULATIONS On time, in full VCA Seminar covers the lot 56

Trust and verify More about enforcement at COSTHA 62 First class meeting IGUS/CIE group mull Class 1 changes 66

BACK PAGE Not otherwise specified 68

NEXT MONTH The Europe issue Preview of EPCA’s Annual Meeting Shortsea and inland shipping Road tankers in Europe What’s next for RID/ADR/ADN

Managing Editor Stephen Mitchell Email: stephen.mitchell@hcblive.com Tel: +44 (0) 20 8371 4045

Designer Natalie Clay

Cargo Media Ltd Marlborough House 298 Regents Park Road, London N3 2SZ

ISSN 2059-5735 www.hcblive.com