OMINI TANKER – MCCOLL’S TRANSPORT

Trailer Magazine November 2016 – McColl’s Transport

OMNI TANKER’S NEW AND DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT APPROACH TO TANKER DESIGN CONTINUES TO WIN OVER THE AUSTRALIAN TRANSPORT MARKET. MCCOLL’S TRANSPORT IS ONE BUSINESS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE VERSATILE OMNI TANKER CONCEPT TO HELP IT GROW.

When Justin Keast, General Manager, Bulk Chemicals, at McColl’s Transport, approached the team at Omni Tanker at the beginning of the year, he had a very clear picture in mind of what he wanted – a tanker to open up new opportunities.

“McColl’s Bulk Chemicals division operates a large fleet of modern bulk liquid chemical tankers, but we have typically stayed away from the lined anker market due to problems associated with rubber lined steel and traditional FRP tankers,” he explains.

“With the Omni Tanker, we felt comfortable exploring that field once again.” Having met with Omni Tanker CEO, Daniel Rodgers, and COO, Robert Stubbs, Justin made the case for expanding McColl’s fleet with the Sydney company’s signature carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) equipment – and has not looked back since.

“I had done some research into its equipment and was impressed with what I had seen,” he says. “The Omni Tanker construction gives it definite advantages when it comes to resistance against aggressive chemicals and also allows for easy wash out, which gives the equipment the versatility to work with a wide range of liquids.”

According to Daniel, the advantages of the Omni Tanker design and materials have allowed it to successfully capture the market for Class 8 corrosive chemical equipment.

“The tanker is constructed with a patented manufacture technology that gives the tank a smooth and seamless interior of thermoplastic polymer, which delivers chemical resistance across a range of chemicals and is also suitable for fertilisers and other Ammonium based liquids, such as AdBlue.” He adds, “The fit for the McColl’s business was great, as the Omni Tank can handle many of the core caustic and sulfuric liquids and also enable its expansion into new liquids not possible in stainless steel.”

OMINI TANKER – MCCOLL’S TRANSPORT

Fast Fact
Omni Tanker’s carbon composite tanker features a seamless thermoplastic interior that reduces absorption to a minimum and enables easy wash out. The result is a versatile tank that allows transport businesses in the chemicals industry to switch safely between different products following wash out. What’s more, Omni Tanker’s use of high strength/lightweight carbon composite materials gives the tanks about half the mass of a steel tank for equivalent pressure rating, which means substantial increases in payload.

The high-profile endorsement by McColl’s, Daniel says, is capping off a strong year for the Omni Tanker brand, which has also seen the development of new products for the European market based on the company’s patented core technology. In a rare case of an Australian OEM breaking into the European market, Omni gained European ADR approval for its CFRP tanks and commenced export to Germany in cooperation with German tanker specialist, Kurt Willig – with the product recently recognised at Expo Petrotrans with the 2016 Innovation Award, a high achievement at Germany’s largest tanker and petroleum logistics event.

Fast Fact
The Omni Tanker equipment was recently recognised on the international stage with the JEC Americas 2016 Innovation award in the Transportation category. JEC is the largest composites industry organisation in the world with a global network of over 250,000 professionals.

In order to address the stringent certification requirements of the European market, Omni Tanker has invested heavily in R&D, Daniel explains: “The engineering rigor required to approve a tank that is constructed from materials not traditionally used in the European market has been intense. Through the process, we have built a really strong team with a high level of expertise in materials and analysis under the guidance of company CTO, Dr Luke Djukic.”

With the first Omni products now on the road in Germany, the Sydney OEM is looking to build on the momentum and has more new releases to come, Daniel says.

“Engineering the first tanks for Germany was a great process for us to gain experience in the certification requirements. The next products to follow will be Omni Portable tanks – including a 23,000-litre ISO tank and 30,000-litre SWAP tank, both designed for carriage of corrosive chemicals by road and rail. These products will deliver the chemical performance of the Omni Tanker technology and deliver substantial reductions in tare weight ompared with equivalent steel units. I believe our success in Europe and, most recently, with McColl’s Transport is proof that our Australian developed technology is changing the game.”

RELATED POSTS

SEND US A MESSAGE