B ULK D ISTRIBUTOR
www.bulk-distributor.com
January/February 2020
Est. 1990
Your single information source for bulk and semi-bulk logistics
Tank Containers • Flexitanks • IBCs • Drums • FIBCs • Bulk Liners • Road Tankers • Loading/Bagging • Bulk Logistics • Cleaning & Repair Depots • Components
IN THIS ISSUE
With UBH in administration, an agent has been
appointed to try and find a buyer for the business
Shipper 2
Asset Management 3
Tank Containers 8
Components 12
Cleaning 13
Flexitanks 14
Industrial Packaging
16
Logistics 18
Ports & Storage
19
FEATURES IN THE NEXT ISSUE
Industrial packaging
UBH goes into administration
T
he UK’s only tank container manufacturer,
UBH international went into
administration just before Christmas last
year, resulting in nearly 100 members of staff
being laid off.
The company, based in Burscough, Lancashire,
north of Liverpool, closed its doors on 17
December and was placed into the hands of
administrators on 23 December, according to the
UK’s official public record.
Universal Bulk Handling (UBH) was established
almost 60 years ago, employing generations of
families who manufactured and supplied tank
containers and road tankers to national and
international customers.
The news came 20 years after UBH previously
failed. In 1999, it was placed in receivership
resulting in the trial and conviction of the
company’s then finance director and managing
director for falsifying UBH’s accounts. The
directors were jailed in 2003.
The company was then bought from the
receivers by its employees who proceeded to run
it as a co-operative.
In 2002, Baxi Partnership, a trust-owned
investment company for employee ownership,
bought a 50 percent stake in the renamed UBH
International Ltd (UBHI) in return for a cash
injection of £1 million. The remaining 50 percent
of the tank builder continued to be owned by
UBHI’s employees.
Over the following years, UBHI built a seemingly
stable business supplying tank containers to a
regular client base. But output remained small
compared with the biggest tank builders based in
China and South Africa.
In 2015, the latest year for which figures were
published in the annual ITCO Fleet Survey, UBHI
built 370 tanks. The same year, seven other
regular tank manufacturers built multiple times
that number.
Efforts were made to develop specialist tanks,
such as cryogenic units, alongside products such
as pressure vessels for the oil & gas industry. Then
in 2017, UBHI also returned to manufacturing
road tankers, ranging from general purpose
chemical tankers through rubber-lined tankers for
acids, vacuum tankers for the waste industry and
cryogenic tankers for industrial gases and LNG.
In the company’s annual accounts for the year
ended 30 September 2018, the latest available,
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HÜNI + CO
Eckenerstraße 65
88046 Friedrichshafen
GERMANY
www.hueni.de
[email protected]
Ports, storage & warehousing
Road Tankers
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[email protected] or
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UBHI posted a loss of nearly £1.4 million on a
turnover of £6.3 million, with similar losses in the
previous two years.
A resolution was adopted under which Baxi’s
share would be bought back by the company, and
this was effected in May 2019.
Nearby companies, including Ainscough Crane
Hire, took to social media to offer redundant
workers help after the business closure.
In the meantime, Sheffield-based law firm
Graywoods is handling the administration and an
agent has been appointed to try and find a buyer
for the business.
Stolt posts slight fall
S
tolt Tank Containers reported fourth quarter revenue of
US$133.4 million, compared with $135.2 million in the
third quarter.
While total shipments were up slightly in the fourth quarter,
transport revenue decreased by $4 million, due to a higher
proportion of intra-regional shipments, which generate less
revenue. The decline was partially offset by a $1.6 million increase
in demurrage revenue. Performance for the quarter reflected
continued price competition and softness in markets overall.
The total number of tanks in STC’s global fleet was essentially
unchanged in the fourth quarter. STC reported a fourth quarter
operating profit of $15.7 million, up from $12.1 million in the third
quarter. Results for the quarter reflected a $5.9 million decline in
fourth quarter operating expense, driven mainly by lower freight
costs from the higher proportion of intra-regional shipments, lower
repositioning and other move-related costs.