Bulk Distributor Jul/Aug 18 | Page 6

6 BULKDISTRIBUTOR Flexitanks & Bulk Liners July / August 2018

6 BULKDISTRIBUTOR Flexitanks & Bulk Liners July / August 2018

Ownership restructure for EPT

Houston-based Environmental Packaging Technologies is being bought by a Canadabased private equity firm . A letter of agreement was signed in March between Blue Bay Capital , Inc , which is based in Vancouver , BC , and Special Liquid Transportation Corp ( SLTC ), a newly formed , private company incorporated under British Columbia law , to acquire 100 percent of the issued and outstanding shares of Environmental Packaging Technologies , Inc , the operating subsidiary of Environmental Packaging Technologies Holdings , Inc . The deal is being structured in the form of 85 million common shares of SLTC and the assumption by SLTC of all of outstanding debt of EPT and its operating subsidiaries estimated at US $ 5 million . Subsequent to the closing of the acquisition , Blue Bay will acquire 100 percent of the shares of SLTC . David Skriloff , EPT ’ s chairman and CEO , and Shane Sims , president and COO of the operating subsidiary , own 1 million shares and 750,000 shares of SLTC , respectively . On closure , Skriloff will become CEO and a director of Blue Bay , while Sims will become COO of Blue Bay . Last year , EPT introduced its patent-pending LiquiRide product which the company vaunts as opening the market for flexitanks to be used in 40ft and 53ft containers and trailers in both dry and refrigerated configurations allowing for the first time shipments of liquid requiring temperature controls .

Last year , EPT introduced its patent-pending LiquiRide product

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Earlier this year , Jon Deverill - a prominent figure in the history of the global flexitank industry - passed away . Bruce Williams looks back on his life and career

Jonathan Samuel Deverill , often referred to as JSD , who died in late January at the age of 66 , was a significant figure in the flexitank industry , which he helped to shape over many years and influence how it exists today . Beginning his career in logistics at British Rail in the mid-1970s , he moved to Unispeed , the Unilever subsidiary , where he played a leading role in developing the company from a domestic UK ISO tank operator into a short-sea service provider , operating between the UK and Western Europe and Scandinavia . By the late 1970s , it was almost impossible to travel by ferry boat across the English Channel or the North Sea , without being accompanied en route by a substantial number of Unispeed tanks - something of which he , and others , were rather proud . In 1981 , Unispeed established a flexitank business , which was headed by Deverill . Flexitanks had been around for some years , but Unispeed ’ s innovation was to offer deepsea ( NVO ) bulk logistics flexitank services comparable to those offered by the early deepsea tank container operators . Latex and technical vegetable oils were initially the most common flexitank cargoes . With Unilever ultimately deciding to disinvest en bloc from its numerous and varied European freight businesses , Deverill really made his mark with the advent in 1984 of Trans Ocean Distribution ( TOD ), a subsidiary of US container lessor Trans Ocean Leasing , later Trans Ocean Ltd . The story goes that the new company ’ s initial small stock of flexitanks was stored in Deverill ’ s garage and garden shed ! Initially appointed as sales director , Deverill became managing director in 1987 , a position that he held for over 10 years , subsequently remaining with the company ( latterly as commercial director ) where he played a significant role in the sale of TOD by its American owners to JF Hillebrand in 2007 and thereafter in the integration of the agency networks of the two companies . He retired at the age of 60 after 28 years with the company in total . What he may have lacked in ‘ classic ’ management expertise or style , Deverill made up for with truckloads of enthusiasm and personality . He would make the company - and its various ventures and scrapes – seem like an adventure , persuading others to join him in the common endeavour and goal . Far East agents that he had appointed in the early 1980s remained loyal and central to TOD ’ s business 15 and more years later . “ Work hard and play hard ”… or “ work hard and have fun doing so ”, were his life and business philosophy . A natural leader and entrepreneur , he enjoyed being managing director ; his style was instinctive and intuitive , rather than deeply planned or documented . At a time when only long life flexitanks - requiring a network of offices or agents and specialist infrastructure to operate and maintain the units – existed , TOD occupied a powerful position in a niche market , consolidating same by the acquisition of smaller rivals , Unispeed ( from P & O Containers ) and Marston Trinicon ( from Sea Containers / Tiphook ).