Getting to grips with flexitanks

The Cotac site in Ludwigshafen is the inaugural facility of Multimodal Tank Care GmbH, providing cleaning, repairs, and maintenance.

The industry continues to be dominated on a global level by a relatively small number of major tank container operators and leasing companies.

Reginald Lee, a founding member of the International Tank Container Organisation and its president for more than 13 years, is retiring at the end of the year.

Mawani (Saudi Ports Authority) and Saudi Global Ports (SGP), which is a joint venture between the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), Singapore’s PSA International, and the Al Balagaa Group, are to invest US$266M in a new logistics park at King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam.

The global pool of dry freight containers is expected to fall in 2023 as ocean carriers and lessors dispose of surplus units that have built up in the fleet since the end of 2020.

Hapag-Lloyd, which is leading the liner shipping industry when it comes to fitting smart devices to its dry freight containers, is pressing ahead with its installation programme. It expects the whole of its 1.6M TEU owned fleet to be smart early in 2024. Already more than 80% of its reefer containers are fitted with devices that in addition to tracking the container’s position, monitor temperature and humidity levels inside the equipment.