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Nr. 13 February 2014

2014 - Business as usual??by Henk Hofman

By now we have taken our first steps into 2014 and it seems that it’s “business as usual”!!

However, it seems likely that we will experience some sig-nificant changes. First of all, I would like to mention a pos-itive change. There are signs that better times are ahead, and for international trans-port especially things are moving in the right direction. Apparently rock bottom has been reached.On the other hand, it looks as if customers are currently putting more work out to ten-der than in recent years, with the aim of obtaining rates that even go beyond cost price. In the past few years, the idea of live and let live has featured more strongly. It is up to us to deal with this in the right way, all the more so because there is certainly no longer any ex-

cess capacity, a fact that can be explained by the reorgani-zation and trimming down of haulage companies. This situation should give you the strength to not simply swim with the tide.

Furthermore, as of 1 January 2014 Bulgarian and Roma-nian workers are now able to move freely within the Euro-pean Union. Many have mixed feelings about this development, but whether we like it or not, it is a fact, and we have to learn to cope with it, as well as look-ing for the opportunities of-fered by this new situation.

A very positive thing is that in the last couple of months two new members have joined Tankceu. Kralowetz, which is based in Austria, will offer us many opportunities through its knowledge of, and practi-

cal experience in, the coun-tries of Eastern European, as well as Greece, Turkey and Moldova.

Moonway, which is based in Turku (FIN), will offer us the same, but in the intermodal field and in respect of the north-ern countries, such as Finland, the Baltic states and Russia.

Finally, I would like to wish you a good, healthy and coop-erative 2014. And keep in mind that in Tankceu you have at your disposal an organization that is unique in Europe!

01 Introduction01 Introduction

02 Meetings02 Munich - general03 Munich - planners

05 New members05 Kralowetz07 Moonway

09 Visit09 Bulgaria

11 Members11 Samat12 Nijhof-Wassink14 Lehnkering15 Blondel16 FoodTankers17 Dekker

18 Colophon

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In the first part of this meet-ing Henk Hofman spoke to the members about the CO² emissions notice, which has been requested by custom-ers, on invoices, cabotage, road tax and eco labels. Mr. Laffont and Mr. Schnebelen gave a presentation with up-dated information on the 44 tonnes regulation and road tax in France.

Each member was given some time to tell colleagues about any changes in their company and how they are dealing with the current eco-

nomic situation. A top 10 of the most used cleaning sta-tions was presented and dis-cussed, followed by a list of tyre suppliers.

Henk Hofman recommended that payment of invoices be carefully monitored by regu-larly checking the adminis-tration and compliance with payment terms. With smaller financial buffers, this precau-tion is becoming increasingly important.

Both divisions spoke in sepa-rate rooms about the market as well as recent and upcom-ing tenders. Mr. Wauters gave a presentation on the results of the intermodal working group, highlighting the latest outcomes: an overview of fer-ry and railway companies and the routes they serve. He told the members about his grow-ing cooperation with some of

his intermodal partners, in particular with Baltica (Rus-sia) and Fourcee (India).

In the final part of the meet-ing the chemical and food di-visions came together again to discuss the interest of some companies in Tankceu and what both parties could mean for each other.

After the meeting the res-taurant was just a short walk from the hotel and provided the members with a gener-ous dinner of Schweins- und Kalbshaxn (pork and veal knuckles) to satisfy even the biggest appetite. The next morning a bus took the Tank-ceu participants and their partners to some of the nic-est parts of Munich and final-ly dropped them off at the re-nowned Tambosi café where they had a farewell coffee and cake.

General Meeting (Chemical and Food Division): Munich, 31 May 2013 by Petra Jongejan

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On 12 October around 35 planners from the chemical and food grade divisions met in Munich, and gave a warm welcome to our new member, Kralowetz, which is headquartered in Austria and has branch offices in Romania, the Czech Republic and Poland. As of 1 October this year, Kralowetz joined both the chemical and food grade divisions of Tankceu. The Board gave a short presentation about third party haulage companies that it had contacted with a view to seeing how cooperation could be improved, and also if this might lead to them becoming candidates for a Tankceu membership.

In his introduction Henk Hofman referred to recent changes on the market and underlined the many possibilities created by that day’s meeting. Planners presented developments in their companies as well as mentioning their backload needs.

Geert van den Abbeele of the Tankceu intermodal working group presented the update of its database, which now allows a better overview of available equipment and lanes within the group, so that load requirements and possibilities can be better matched. The working group requested that Tankceu be expanded to include other intermodal haulage companies.

In the food grade division planners were invited to propose topics that were of most interest to them currently. Amongst other things, the increasingly long waiting times and possible ways of dealing with this problem were discussed. Additionally there was an exchange of experience with regard to complying with the demands of some bigger customers such as handling the administrative aspects of orders: how can these customers’ systems be satisfactorily integrated into our own systems?

In the smaller groups, with the help of a list, planners from the chemical division enjoyed a lively discussion about lanes with poor reloading opportunities and where solutions for these lanes might be found within the group.

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Planners’meeting (Chemical and Food Division): Munich, 12 October 2013 by Petra Jongejan

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With the whole group back together, a top twelve list of cleaning stations most used by both the chemical and food grade members was presented.

Finally Henk Hofman handed out the trophy for the Tankceu member of the year to IAT, and explained this decision by mentioning the company’s membership of almost 20 years, during which time it has proved to be a reliable and stable member with a substantial growth of turnover within the group. So far they have participated in every meeting and are actively involved in initiatives such as the intermodal and SQAS working groups. Moreover, IAT manager Hans Petersen has been a constructive member of the Tankceu Board for several years now.

In the evening two guides showed the planners the nicest spots in the old centre of Munich, which they spiced up with interesting stories, and eventually left us in the capable hands of the Haxnbauer restaurant, where everybody enjoyed a generous portion of genuine Munich pork or veal knuckles, accompanied by a refreshing and tasty beer.

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Trophy - member of the year - handed out to Peder Pedersen of IAT

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On 1 October 2013 Kralowetz joined Tankceu as a new member of both the food and chemical divisions. With its contacts and many years’ experience of chemical and food grade road tank trans-ports, especially to central and eastern European coun-tries, Kralowetz will further strengthen the Tankceu net-work.

Kralowetz was established in 1955 by Karl Kralowetz sr, who started off with delive-ries of construction material for the Danube Power Plant in Ybbs and the West Auto-bahn (AT). In subsequent years the company’s activities were ex-panded to include the trans-portation of chemical and

food grade liquids, fuel, do-mestic fuel oils and bitumen. The collapse of the Iron Cur-tain offered Kralowetz some interesting growth opportuni-ties, with branches being set up in Timisoara (RO), Pardu-bice (CZ) and in Kedzierzyn Kozle (PL).

Kralowetz strengthens Tankceu’s food and chemical divisions

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Today the company also of-fers the following transport related services:

- an external and internal cleaning station for both food and chemical products that complies with HACCP standards and is located in Blindenmarkt (AT).

Opening hoursMonday to Friday: 07.00 - 22.00 hoursSaturday: 07.00 -12.00 hours

- a Shell truck stop, including sanitary facilities, a restau-rant and parking for around 100 trucks, with free WiFi.

For chemical transports Kra-lowetz has a modern fleet of 30 tanks, mainly carrying out transports to Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.Their food grade fleet counts 50 tanks and serves lanes to Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Moldova and Italy. The main products carried are wine, cognac, juices, li-quid chocolate, oils and fats.

Kralowetz’s drivers receive regular (safety) training and health checks.

Planning contacts (everyone speaks English as well as their mother tongue)

Food:Martin Kralowetzmartin.kralowetz@kralowetz.at+43 7473 2500 10

Lukas Hofbauerlukas.hofbauer@kralowetz.at+43 7473 2500 72

Chemical:Markus Waltermarkus.walter@kralowetz.at+43 7473 2500 14

Martin Kralowetz Lukas Hofbauer Markus Walter

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Moonway is a specialist in dry and liquid bulk container transport. We transport liquid chemicals, food grade cargo and dry bulk products. Although we’re based in Turku, Finland, the location of our office is not particularly significant, as all our communication is electronic. The entire world is our playing field!

An expert staff is our most important resource. Professional skills and continuous development of operations guarantee high quality customer service. We seek to be one of the leading companies in our sector, and in this sense we have in fact been very successful. Flexible and efficient service has helped us to win the confidence of our customers.Some 350,000 tank containers are in use worldwide. Their numbers are growing by approximately 10 per cent annually, although at the moment the sector is suffering from the generally sluggish world economy. However, we firmly believe in a better tomorrow. Cargoes are shifting increasingly to tank containers and we want to take our share of the growing volumes. Transport to and from Russia continues to grow rapidly despite temporary fluctuations in volume. It has come to stay and we are prepared to meet the challenge. Nevertheless, Finnish industry will remain our largest group of customers and we will continue to serve them in the best possible way.

Moonway OyThe entire world is our playing field! by Tom Mohn, CEO

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As of 15 December 2013 Moonway has joined Tankceu as a member of the chemical division.

Some basic facts and figures about Moonway:

Established: in 1994 and based in Turku (FIN)

Turnover:10 million / yearFinancially, Moonway is a healthy and profitable company and is part of the BT Logistics, owned by KWH.

Main activities (predominantly intermodal):1. Bulk liquid food transports 2. Bulk liquid chemical transports 3. Dry (low-grade) industrial transport in bulk

Fleet - 70 food grade tank containers (owned)- a small fleet of 20 ft bulk containers (owned)Main flows abroad are imports to Finland and dedicated food transports Benelux – Spain.

Quality Moonway is ISO 900:2000 and SQAS certified.All containers are CSCV certificated.

Some plus points for Tankceu • Additional reliable support in Finland and connections to the Baltic States and Russia • Enlargement of Tankceu’s intermodal network • The positive input of a strongly motivated team that wants to become a constructive Tankceu member

TeamTom Mohn – General and Commercial ManagerIntermodal planningT +358 2 27 54 312M +358 400 785 462E tom.mohn@moonway.fi

Taina Kaasila – Operations ManagerRoad planningT +358 2 27 54 300E taina.kaasila@moonway.fi

Minna ImmonenT +358 2 27 54 313E minna.immonen@moonway.fi

Moonway – new member of Tankceu’s chemical division

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The aim of this four-day trip last October was to visit some tank haulage companies, in-cluding Globus Ltd, a sub-contractor of Dekker, which is situated in Burgas. Another consideration was the immi-nent (as of 1 January 2014) end to the restrictions on Bulgari-ans and Romanians working without permits throughout the European Union.

At Sofia Airport we were col-lected by Petar Trankov, the owner of Globus, and his em-ployee, Kalina Atanasova, who helped us during our trip with Bulgarian-English transla-tion. The Bulgarian language is related to Russian.

We headed to Burgas on the Black Sea - via the A1/E80, which by the way, is an excel-lent road! The main part of this motorway, co-financed by Brussels, opened only a few months ago. On the way to Burgas just before the exit to Istanbul - quite amazingly - we passed a truck belon-ging to Kralowetz, our new Tankceu member.

The next morning a meeting took place in the offices of Globus, where agreements for 2014 were made and a number of Bulgarians came to apply for work in Dekker’s cocoa melting facilities.

In the afternoon we visited SG Ltd, a haulage company owned by Stancho and Ma-riella Georgieva. Their fleet consists of around 12 tank truck combinations. The site of SG Ltd also includes a large parking area with a lot of space available for future activities and a brand new cleaning station for the inter-nal and external cleaning of tank trucks. In Bulgaria this cleaning station is the only one to have achieved SQAS certification. SG Ltd is loca-ted very near to the LUKOIL Refinery, previously a state owned company which also featured a plant for the pro-duction of chemicals that has now been closed. LUKOIL has ambitious plans for the future expansion of its activi-ties there. Bertschi also has a branch in the area and has some specific development plans too.

Visiting Bulgaria - a learning experience by Jan Duel and Henk Hofman

Tank cleaning at SG Ltd. site

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We had lunch on the coast in Nessebar, a historic city founded by the Greeks in the 6th century BC that is a World Heritage site. To many, Nessebar, which is situated on the Black Sea, is well known as a seaside resort.

On the third day we went back to Sofia, visiting a sunflower oil extraction plant on the way. Sunflowers are one of Bulgaria’s main agricultural products.

On arrival at our hotel, which faced the parliament building in the centre of Sofia, it was evident that for some time demonstrations had been going on against the policies of the current government. The parliament buildings had been closed off by a large police and anti-riot force. This all happened just a few metres from our hotel, al- though we never witnessed any aggression, only a lot of noise and drumming in the evening. In the afternoon we lunched with Georgi Todorov of GT TRANS Ltd, a company with which both Buchner and Kralowetz currently cooperate. By Western European stan-dards it is a relatively small company, but with its fleet of about 17 tank trucks, it is perhaps the biggest in Bulgaria.

From our information it ap-peared that in Bulgaria no more than 5 companies are involved in road tank transport. The following morning we thanked our guides for their excellent welcome and sup-port over the previous four days, after which we returned to the Netherlands.

In Bulgaria the years spent behind the Iron Curtain are still clearly visible from the presence of many ugly and badly maintained flats - typical architecture for places where communism triumphed in the past. For many Bulgarians both the low standard of living and poor social conditions are major reasons for seeking solutions abroad.

Bulgaria - some basic figures Location: neighboured by Serbia, Ma-cedonia, Romania, Greece and Turkey

Number of inhabitants: 7 million (+3 million employed abroad)

Area: 111,000 km²(Bulgaria is three times the size of the Netherlands)

Main mountain range: the Balkans, which cut Bul-garia in two.

If you would like more information, please contact Jan Duel or Henk Hofman

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Sunflower oil extraction plant

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Last 22 and 23 November in Toulouse the planners of our Group’s chemical division met at the Space Centre in Tou-louse to exchange their experiences of the Group’s main activity: transport for the chemical industry.

On the programme: a meeting and informal exchangeOn Friday evening everybody met in a typical Toulouse res-taurant to enjoy a moment of well-deserved relaxation after a busy week of work.

The next day it was time to get down to some serious busi-ness! In the course of the morning the planners were able to discuss and exchange their experiences of two main items: the chemical industry in 2014 and chemical transport flows.

1) The chemical industry in 2014 • Presentation of Samat Sud Toulouse and some Group SAMAT figures • The 2 pillars of the Group in 2014, namely commercial development and the continuous reduction in consumption • The evolution of the European chemical industry • Focus on the chemical activities of the Group

2) The Group’s chemical transport flows • Presentation of the different branches’ flows with the help of mapping • Cleaning • Presentation of Tankceu by Mr. Laffont, General Manager of the Group

First the different members, goals and services of Tank-ceu were presented. This was followed by an analysis of the exchange of cargo, after which the subject of cleaning stations was briefly touched upon. Finally Jérôme Durand, chemical planner at Samat Sud Rognac, shared his ex-perience of the Tankceu plan-ners’ meeting. He underlined the importance of more plan-ners from the SAMAT Group chemical division taking part in the next Tankceu planners’ meeting.

An informative and instruc-tive meeting All of the participants felt that the meeting had been a very positive one. The plan-ners were able to feed back information that is important for the development of the Group. Everybody was able to express themselves freely and so contribute to the suc-cess of the event. This conviv-ial get together has inspired the Group to plan more meet-ings in future with the opera-tional staff. Indeed a meeting regarding bitumen transport activities is already being considered.

Chemical division: Groupe SAMAT planners’ convention and meeting

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Nijhof-Wassink has taken over Janssens BVBA in Torhout, Belgium. Janssens was founded in 1989 and specializes in animal feed logistics services. With 19 employees, Janssens is one of the bigger bulk transporters in Belgium, and will become part of the animal feed division of Nijhof-Wassink.

In addition to the Janssens site in Belgium, Nijhof-Wassink also has subsidiaries in the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary and Germany. Since 2000, Nijhof-Wassink has become a serious competitor in the animal feed market. In taking over the 19 combinations from Janssens, Nijhof-Wassink’s fleet now totals over 150 animal feed combinations, with which it supplies farmers in Northern, Eastern and Western Europe.

Nijhof-Wassink opens in Belgium!Nijhof-Wassink has reached an agreement with Janssens BVBA in Torhout (B)

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Nijhof-Wassink & VB TrailerbouwNijhof-Wassink chooses thirteen Vogelzang ADR container chassis

Last week Nijhof-Wassink received the first of thirteen Vogelzang ADR container chassis. VB Trailerbouw of Bedum took care of the sophisticated design and production. Thanks to close cooperation during the engineering process we managed to use the best of both worlds, our experience combined with the technical know-how of VB Trailerbouw.

This combination made it pos-sible to create a high-quality chassis which perfectly fits our needs. Off course a lot of attention was paid to achiev-ing the right balance between high quality and light weight.

The chassis are equipped for transportation of both 20’ and 30’ containers. They have three BPW disc brake axles and a Haldex air brake

system. To optimize working conditions for the drivers, the chassis are built with an ergonomic entry. For extra durability the chassis are surface finished and axles and outriggers are also spray painted.

With these container chassis VB Trailerbouw has demon-strated that it is able to trans-late customer wishes into a competitive Dutch quality trail-er that guarantees a long life.

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Lehnkering moves to a new location

As of 1 November 2013 Lehnkering Chemical Trans-port has moved its planning and administration depart-ments to new offices located right in the middle of Waal-haven port. Not only does Lehnkering now have a modern, spaci-ous and light office, but this transfer has also enabled it to achieve greater syner-gy with its sister company, Lehnkering Logistics, which is based in the same buil-ding.

As before, there are work-shops and parking in Berg-schenhoek (Rotterdam) and Axel (Terneuzen), together with a cleaning station in the latter location.

New addressDockworks 4Waalhaven Oostzijde 77Port No. 2203A3087BM RotterdamThe Netherlands

René van de VenT +31 10 42 88 450E rene.vandeven@lehnkering.com

Kees van den EngelT +31 10 42 88 454E kees.vandenengel@lehnkering.com

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Blondel – purchase of new trailersby Pierre Egler

Out of concern for safety the BRUN INVEST Group has purchased coated stainless steel trailers (photo 1) which will avoid drivers needing to climb on top of the tank to operate the valves and air channels. All of the hydraulic controls are operated from a box at the back of the trailer near the unloading valve (photo 2).

The driver can unload by pressure, gravity or suction without having to climb on top of the tank and risk falling. This happened to one of our employees, who broke his thigh bone as a result. The new tanks are also equipped with a box (photo 3) that makes it possible to check the tonnage per axle, which is very important in view of the regulations allowing gross vehicle weights of 44 tonnes in France.

photo 1

photo 2

photo 3

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FoodTankers enters the liquid gas transport marketby Tomas Petterson, CEO

FoodTankers has expanded its service portfolio to in-clude liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) logistics. For this purpose, a new company called LEHNKERING Gas Lo-gistics has been established, and its first task will be to take over the LPG-distribu-tion in southern Sweden for E.ON Gas Sweden. The fleet for this long-term contract consists of five specialized vehicles to be operated by eight highly skilled drivers.

As a company specializing in foodstuffs, FoodTankers intends to maintain a clear separation between its two divisions. This is why it was decided to create the gas di-vision as a separate spin-off company. We also know that LPG is an important growth market in Sweden and Nor-way, and we aim to strength-en our presence there in the future.

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is a mixture of propane and butane; the liquid gas is a by-product of the extrac-tion of natural gas and crude oil. The gas transported by LEHNKERING is used to raise temperatures during production processes, to heat buildings, and in road con-struction (asphalt), as well as for drying grain, and, in bot-tles, for private use (camping gas etc.). A consistent tem-perature of at least -42˚ C is required for the transport. Because of the specialized equipment needed and the handling challenges of LPG, every employee has obtained a special certificate for the transportation of LPG.

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Dekker Transport & Tank storageEight new 316L stainless steel storage tanks

Last September eight new tanks were delivered to Dekker via the IJssel river. The heaviest tank weighed 14,500 kg in the hoists!

The storage capacities of the new heated 316L stainless steel tanks range from 60 to 350 m³. The following tanks have been installed

• Three new 350 m³ tanks• Two new 225 m³ tanks• One new 128 m³ tank• One new 105 m³ tank• One new 60 m³ tank

The 60 m³ tank has an agitator suitable for products with a high viscosity. Each tank has its own pump and piping so the risk of contamination is excluded.

These tanks are already in demand, especially when it comes to speciality products!

For more information contact:

Rob BatenburgT +31180 898 552M +31 652 567 348E r.batenburg@dekkergroep.com

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ColophonEditorial teamGeneral Editor:Henk HofmanT +31 10 218 48 79E hofman@tankceu.com

Editorial Secretary:Petra JongejanT +31 10 418 05 22E tankceu@tankceu.com

ProductionBuro Solo Rotterdam (NL)

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