WorldCargo
CONTAINER INDUSTRY NEWS
news
Breakthrough for Eko-Flor
to produce a lightweight compos-
ite panel with load bearing prop-
erties.
SeaCo implements
“We are happy to have met the
Toronto-based Conforce Interna- challenge and as a result, we are
tional has received the first order confident that this development
for its innovative composite Eko- will enable us to supply Eko-Flor
reorganisation plan
Flor product from US-based spe- panels for numerous military and
Sea Containers Ltd (SCL) has vanced US$40M to SCL as a
cialised container manufacturer non-military containers,” he said.
completed the transfer of its senior, secured loan, to be re-
Sea Box Inc. The Eko-Flor equipped con-
maritime container interests to paid from cash generated from
The US$1.1M order is not for tainers will be delivered by Sea
SeaCo Ltd, a new Bermuda- the wind down and liquidation
the Eko-Flor cs container floor, Box to the US Air Force for final
registered company, and con- of the Sea Containers group.
however, but for Eko-Flor ms-1, deployment. Ongoing orders from
firmed its emergence from AlixPartners LLP has been
a special application container Sea Box are expected to generate
bankruptcy with the Delaware appointed as Plan Administra-
panel developed at the request of revenues in excess of US$4M for
Bankruptcy Court. tor to SCL to oversee the wind
Sea Box for use as military supply Conforce over the next 24
The major shareholders in down process.
shelving in US rapid deployment months.
the new company are former “We are pleased to complete
containers.
The first batch of Eko-Flor ms-1 panels have already been dispatched to Sea Box
Initial production of ms-1 pan-
SCL bondholders and two of the US$127M refinancing with
“The task we were given was els has commenced in North
the group’s UK pension funds. Fortis Bank and DVB and the
to develop a variation of our cs- tary supplies stored in specialised Conforce president and CEO America, with the first shipment
SeaCo Ltd now owns a 50% Sea Containers restructuring,”
4 flooring profile to support mili- containers around the world,” said Marino Kulas. “The objective was already dispatched to the manu-
share in leasing company GE said Mark Wilson, newly ap-
facturer. Production is expected to
SeaCo and a container fleet of pointed CEO of SeaCo Ltd.
be shifted to the new Conforce
approximately 105,000 TEU, “SeaCo has been formed at a
Production and Development
which is managed for SeaCo challenging time for the mari-
Centre in Ontario next month.
Ltd by GE SeaCo. GE Capital time container industry as it
Eko-Flor is manufactured us-
owns the other 50% interest in responds to the downturn in
ing Baydur PUL 2500, a two-
GE SeaCo. global shipping.
component polyurethane system
The specialist in operational
The new company has “SeaCo will be working
from BaySystems, the umbrella
raised a US$127M five year exit closely with GE Capital to con-
brand for the global polyurethane
financing facility via a senior se- tinue GE SeaCo’s role as a lead-
leasing of Terminal, Transport
systems operations of Bayer
cured term loan from Fortis ing maritime container leasing
MaterialScience. Using the poly-
Bank Nederland and DVB company and to protect the
and Cargo Handling Equipment
urethane system, together with a
Bank. The proceeds, less re- value of its own fleet of marine
polyurethane pultrusion process,
tained working capital of containers,” Wilson said.
has made it possible for Conforce
US$5M and financing costs of SCL filed for protection un-
to manufacture a product that
iswww.consent.se
US$5M, have been used to re- der Chapter 11 of the US bank-
claimed to have a number of ad-
pay the debtor in possession ruptcy code in October 2006
vantages over panels made from
(DIP) loan provided to Sea and has since sold off most of
materials traditionally used in con-
Containers Ltd by Mariner and its assets. In December 2007, it
tainer flooring and other container
Dune, two of its former bond- won an arbitration case brought
applications.
holders. The US$24M balance against it by GE Capital, which
As reported in the November
of the DIP loan of US$141M was seeking to buy out SCL’s
2008 issue of WorldCargo News
was repaid from SCL’s own cash interest in GE SeaCo at an
(p17), the Eko-Flor cs-4 container
resources. agreed or litigated price.
floor panel has successfully under-
SeaCo Ltd paid total con- The two companies subse-
gone full scale ISO testing under
sideration of US$462.3M for quently signed a “settlement
ABS supervision at a container
the container assets of SCL, agreement” to resolve their dis-
plant in China and 900 TEU of
comprising cash of US$77.7M putes over the running of GE
Eko-Flor-equipped containers
and equity of US$384.6M. In SeaCo (see WorldCargo News
will shortly be put into circula-
addition, SeaCo Ltd has ad- April 2008, p26).
tion for field testing.
Box builders anticipating a
hefty drop in 2008 earnings
China International Marine Con- because of factors that had not yet container production in Decem-
* rolltrailers
tainers (CIMC) expects its 2008 been accounted for. ber or January, in the run up to
* 13.6m & 45H11541 palletwide containers
profit to fall by 40-60% largely “The company’s profit has the Chinese New Year, but last year
* 40H11541 palletwide containers
because of the slump in demand dropped because demand for it halted production in late Octo-
for dry freight containers in the trucks has fallen and the container ber and is unlikely to resume be-
fourth quarter. business has come to a virtual fore April. One observer put
The world’s largest container standstill owing to the worsening CIMC’s output of standard dry
CAI Consent Sweden AB
PO Box 4143, S-400 40 GOTHENBURG, Sweden
maker estimates that profit for last global shipping market and Chi- freight containers at only 100,000
Phone: +46 31 12 42 45, Telefax: +46 31 42 86 59
year will be around Yuan1.5B nese economy caused by the glo- TEU in the fourth quarter of
UK Office: CAI Consent UK Ltd, Prince Henry House,
(US219M) down from the bal recession,” CIMC said. “In 2008, compared with 1.3M TEU
Kingsclere Business Park, KINGSCLERE, Hampshire, RG20 4SW
Yuan3.16B (US$462M) reported addition, the company needs to in the first three quarters. Overall,
Phone: +44 1635 299999, Telefax: +44 1635 299993
in 2007. make provisions for declining in- the company’s dry freight con-
CIMC also warned that actual ventory value.” tainer production in 2008 is reck-
reported profit might be different CIMC usually halts dry freight oned to have been 25% lower than
in 2007 and could fall another
20% this year.
Dry freight containers ac-
Is your Flatrack technology
counted for 46% of CIMC’s op-
erating revenue and 32% of its net
profit of Yuan1.7B in the first three
quarters of 2008.
letting you down ?
“CIMC’s core container busi-
ness has limited growth prospects.
The container business will con-
tinue to soften due to the global
crisis and whether it recovers this
year depends on whether the glo-
bal economy recovers,” said an ana-
lyst at China Merchants Securities.
Singamas Container Holdings,
the world’s second-largest con-
tainer manufacturer, operated at
60% of normal output in the
fourth quarter of 2008 but shut
down its dry freight lines in Janu-
ary and is also unlikely to resume
production before April.
The situation has come about
because customers cannot access
Domino XL Flatracks are different. The integral Domino financing as a result of the credit
‘FLEX’ technology prevents permanent base deflection.
crunch, said Sylvia Tam, the Hong
Kong-listed company’s chief fi-
nancial officer.
Old flatrack technology allows the base to sag, in some
DOMINO Flatracks
“The earliest our business will
WORLD LEADERS IN INNOVATIVE DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE
cases up to 25mm permanently, causing roof damage to
pick up is the second quarter.
containers below and slow connection with top lift spreaders. Tel: +44 (0)1926 863 140 E-mail:
info@dominoflatracks.com Web:
www.dominoflatracks.com
Until banks are back to normal
operations, business cannot return
to normal,” she said.
22 February 2009
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