ITCO Members Meeting – Antwerp, September 2018

Antwerp | 24-25 September 2018

Over 155 delegates attended the 2018 ITCO Members Meeting, held in Antwerp on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 September 2018.

Keynote Presentations

BASF - The Conference opened with a Keynote Presentation on BASF’s use of Tank Containers for Integrated Storage and Logistics Speaker, given by Dr. Thorsten Bieker, Vice President Rail & Site Services, BASF. Dr Bieker updated participants with the project being undertaken by BASF to use high-volume tank containers for in-plant and intra-plant logistics.

Evonik - On the following day, Tim Mertens, Assistant, Logistics Processes - Technology & Infrastructure, Evonik Degussa Antwerp NV, spoke on the subject of “Tank containers – key topics for the chemical industry” – covering chemical industry priorities - with focus on the role of tank container operators, the E-ECD (and the importance the industry puts in this subject) and the development of the “Chemicals Cloud”.

Port of Antwerp - The view of the Port of Antwerp’s Harbour Master Department on tank containers and UN portable tanks as given by Paul Wauters, Maritime Safety Harbour Master, Port of Antwerp Authority. He covered the handling of dangerous goods in tanks, how to handle incidents – and gave examples of good practices.

Brookes Bell – the final presentation of the morning was given by Dr Penelope Cooke and Dr Ken Kirby of Brookes Bell. They analysed the potential risks to tanks from improper cargo classification and the problems of corrosion. They reviewed the classification of DG cargo as declared (and by whom), the consequent potential risks to ITCO members (especially tank container operators) and the damage to the tanks by mis-declared products, including an evaluation of corrosion.

Divisional Meetings

The afternoon began with the meetings of ITCO’s four divisions – Operators, Lessors, Manufacturers and Service Providers. Minutes of the Meetings are published separately.

Break-out Work Group Sessions

There were four break-out Work Groups in the second half of the afternoon. These covered: IT – Tracking and data; Technical/Regulatory; Operator Risk Management; Key issues in tank container operations - assessing an SDS identifying corrosion resistance.