Successful ITCO meeting

More than 150 delegates attended the 2017 ITCO Members Meeting which was held in Amsterdam recently.

The Conference opened with a Keynote Presentation on BASF’s use of Tank Containers for Integrated Storage and Logistics, given by Dr. Thorsten Bieker, Vice President Rail & Site Services, BASF. On the following day, Mark Bennett, Director, Bennett Consulting gave an overview of Container Shipping: ‘Mergers, Alliances – what is the future?’. He reviewed the current changes in the container shipping industry, the impact of Hanjin bankruptcy, a perspective of takeovers, mergers and what this means for the shipping industry. He then questioned what would be the impact on the tank container industry.

The second keynote speaker was Arie den Bleker, Inland Transport, Rail and Road Transport, Enforcement/Dangerous Goods, Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, The Netherlands, who gave a report on the tank container inspection programme in the Port of Rotterdam. He reviewed the developments over the past year, covered the marking of IMO tanks and the different ways of enforcement by the ILT.

Break-out sessions in the afternoon focused on Technical/Regulatory issues affecting the tank container industry, the 2018 Fleet Report, insurance/Risk Assessment for the tank container industry and the possible development of a Charter Party for the Industry.

The final session included a presentation by Fort Vale Engineering, giving details of the company’s 50-year history.

For more information visit www.international-tank-container.org

4th Dec 2017