Bulk Distributor Sept/Oct 16 | Page 8

8 BULKDISTRIBUTOR Containers September/October 2016 €2.5m EU grant for HCI’s New Operations foldable containers Director for CH Robinson’s Europe H Transportation division olland Container Innovations (HCI) has been awarded a European grant of €2.5 million to develop its 4FOLD foldable containers, intended for global transport by land and sea. The company, based in Delft in the Netherlands, was one of only 33 from a total of 960 applicants to receive funding from the second phase of the European innovation program Horizon 2020’s SME instrument. Currently, the transportation industry spends about €25 billion a year on moving empty cargo containers. Foldable containers are a solution to cutting both the cost and CO2 emissions associated with this. The idea was initially conceived by the Delft University of Technology and resulted in the establishment of HCI in 2008. The 4FOLD container can, once emptied, be reduced to a quarter of its normal size. HCI launched the product at a major container industry exhibition in 2014, and the grant will now catalyse its market introduction. Simon Bosschieter, one of the founders of HCI, said: “The 4FOLD containers are a breakthrough solution and ready to change the current landscape of the international transport sector. The positioning of empty containers is one of the most complex problems concerning global freight distribution and represents large costs. The cost needs to be reduced while there is also an expanding global demand to cut CO2 emissions. HCI can make the difference.” “HCI can accelerate the market introduction with the grant from the SME instrument. In order to convince the logistics sector of the value of 4FOLD, a large-scale demonstration will be executed.” Compressors Blowers Pumps Hydraulics Systems Service S www.gd-transport.com 20160913 Adv Bulk Distributor - Robuschi story-01.indd 1 H Robinson Europe has announced that Nikolay Pargov has joined the company as Operations Director, Europe Transportation. Pargov brings 13 years of experience to the role, which includes leading the region’s capacity teams. He will also serve on the Europe leadership team, which is focused on growing the company’s presence in the region. “The knowledge and range of specialised experience that Nikolay brings to this position makes him well qualified to lead CH Robinson’s capacity teams in Europe,” said Jeroen Eijsink, President of Europe for the company. “We are excited to add yet another industry expert to our strong European leadership team.” Since 1993, CH Robinson has provided customers with flexible, quality and reliable services in Europe that set them apart from competitors. The company’s motivated, multilingual and customer-focused employees apply their local knowledge and expertise to every transport challenge and build strong, personalised relationships with the customers