Tank Containers
November/December 2015
BULKDISTRIBUTOR
7
Let the tanks tell you
Making informed decisions when allocating tank containers can be made a whole lot easier when using a system that uses live
data from the depot and is able to ‘speak’ to other parties in the supply chain
T
he allocation of tanks within tank container fleets can be a
delicate business –operators need to meet safety and
regulatory requirements while also increasing fleet utilisation
and (ultimately) profits.
Currently, most tank allocation is done manually, which can simply
mean that operators don’t always have sufficient information to
hand to allow them to make the best commercial decisions. Needless
to say, manual decision-making also leaves a margin for human error
that could result in costly or even dangerous mistakes.
The solution is to increase the visibility of the entire tank container
fleet and pair this with information about each tank’s trading history.
To do this, tank asset management software can be invaluable. But
why?
At the depot
“Doing the tank planning in the system means you can have system
validation, better control over the allocation of the tank to the order,
and thirdly almost auto-allocating tanks, providing the user with an
advised tank for each order selected – the ‘best fit’,” explains Jeremy
Dunnett, senior consultant for specialist software company RAM
Intermodal, which has developed a tank asset management tool that
also includes an electronic data interchange (EDI) module.
Using an ‘almost’ automated system to allocate tanks also reduces
manpower and associated labour costs, so there are savings in time
and cost amongst the benefits.
“The other benefit is reducing mistakes,” says Dunnett. “The worst
case example might be that you send a tank without the right
approvals to America and it will get rejected at the quay. Hence,
there are lots of business reasons to want to remove the possibility
of mistakes occurring.”
RAM Intermodal’s tank allocation software uses system validation
to help prevent mistakes like this. Warnings flash up when the
operator allocates a tank that is inappropriate for the product to be
carried. This might be based on classifications or capacity full ratios,
for instance.
Stolt income
drops back
S
tolt Tank Containers reported third-quarter
operating revenue of US$127.9 million, down
from $131.3 million in the second quarter.
The decline in revenue was attributable to downward
price adjustments driven by increased competition, along
with an increased percentage of intra-regional
shipments. Utilisation was 70 percent, compared with
71.3 percent in the second quarter, due to delivery of
new tanks in the second and third quarters. Both the
number of shipments and the number of tanks in STC’s
global fleet were essentially unchanged in the third
quarter, compared with the second quarter, as higher
cost, older leased units were off-hired.
STC’s third-quarter operating profit fell to $15.6 million
from $18.6 million in the previous quarter, due to the
decrease in revenue and higher administrative and
general expenses, reflecting in part the opening of the
new Moerdijk depot.
A company can also pr W6V