Logistics service provider H.Essers has announced the acquisition of the Norwegian-French company Tank Management, a European specialist in the temperature-controlled transport of liquid loads, specifically for the chemical and food industries.
This move comes after almost two and a half years from the acquisition of tank container specialist Huktra and is a strategic investment of H.Essers, which aims to combine different modes of transport in its services.
Although the full takeover was completed earlier in July, the focus in the first phase is on the integration and consolidation towards one entity, specifically for conditioned liquids transport for the chemical industry. This entity represents a turnover of €100 million (US$119 million) and a fleet of 2.000 ISO tanks.
The development of liquid chemical bulk transport is part of the long-term strategic plan of logistics service provider H.Essers. The company provides integrated logistics solutions to the chemical/hazardous goods industry. This is a market segment with complex logistical challenges, stringent regulations and specific operating conditions (such as temperature control, safety and environment). H.Essers is concentrating increasingly on synchromodality: i.e. intelligently combining various modes of transport.
The acquisition of Tank Management enables us to offer our customers a new way of managing transport flows, which are not only more efficient but, thanks to this approach, also more sustainable,” stated H.Essers’ CEO, Gert Bervoets. “It’s a win-win situation for all parties: customers, logistics service providers and our community,” he added.
With this acquisition, H.Essers is also expanding the geographical footprint for liquid chemical logistics, as the branches in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway of the 2006-founded Tank Management can give wider coverage. It is important to say that Huktra already had branches in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Romania.
With the additional regions, the service area is also being expanded, said H.Essers in its announcement with the multimodal transport range for liquid chemicals now extends throughout Europe, from Gibraltar to Moermansk, from Ireland to Urals, and beyond.
Apart from the geographical expansion, H.Essers will also enlarge its service portfolio through this acquisition. With this takeover, there will be an even stronger focus on temperature controlled liquids transport for the chemical industry, according to a statement.
Tank Management specialises in multimodal transport services of liquid chemicals and the further development of multimodal liquid bulk transport fits in H.Essers’ strategy of delivering integrated and sustainable logistics solutions to the hazardous chemical goods industry.
The owners of Tank Management, the families Nordbe & Philippe, believe this acquisition is the “next step” for the company. “Thanks to the acquisition by a strong industrial player such as H.Essers, Tank Management will continue to excel in service, to grow and to expand its expertise in the coming years,” they commented.
Tank Management has a turnover of €40 million (US$47.7 million), with 35 employees. Its fleet consists of 800 modern ISO tanks capable of transporting liquids at different temperatures with a range going from -10° to +120°C. All units are equipped with real-time track & trace, while the temperature inside Tank Management’s fleet can be remotely monitored and controlled.
H.Essers said that no financial details will be disclosed. However, the current Tank Management directors will remain on board, as was the case with the Huktra takeover.
