The latest survey of the International Tank Container Organisation (ITCO) shows that the global tank container fleet had reached 882 023 units worldwide, which was 3.96% more than a year before.
Tank containers – modular shipping containers used for transporting bulk liquids, powders and gases that would otherwise have to be transported by tanker – experienced a boom during 2021 and 2022’s Covid-19-related shipping disruptions. However, this growth is now slowing in line with worldwide economic trends, particularly challenges faced in the chemical industry over the past two years, says ITCO.
Yet the body hopes that these weaknesses in the market, along with an unpredictable international trade environment and more localised supply chains, may provide a valuable niche market for such containers.
“Despite the slow-down in the growth of the industry, the massive disruption in the supply chain and the chemical industry challenges, the past four years have proved that the tank container plays a critical role in the ‘just-in-time’ business philosophy of the major end users – the shippers,” said ITCO in its 13th annual report on the industry.
“Despite the headwinds…and the industry should reckon with tough conditions for the foreseeable future, the tank container offers many supply chain advantages which will support its role as a niche mode of transportation, particularly considering the pressures being faced by its main customers in the chemicals and food-grade markets,” says ITCO.
“It represents a safe and sustainable piece of equipment, ideally suited to intermodal traffic. The loaded product is subject to minimal handling – at the loading point, and at the point of discharge – unlike products moved on bulk parcel tankers.
“Pressures on working capital will discourage shippers from accumulating large inventories of products to be shipped in bulk tankers, and ultimately stored in bulk terminals at the discharge point, if tank containers offer a viable alternative.
“There is also evidence of a gradual change from global supply chains, to more local-for-local sourcing, in which case tank containers can play a vital role in moving products to more isolated customers where infrastructure is less developed.”
