Congress Report 2017
UEIL David Wright, UKLA
This year the European lubricants sector chose to hold its Congress in Bologna, a city famed for being the home of the oldest Italian university. Against this backdrop, delegates from all over Europe and beyond came together to consider the latest developments impacting upon the lubricants sector.
The theme for this year’s Congress was Innovation and Sustainability. There can be no greater issue facing the sector than changes to the automotive industry in phasing out traditional diesel and petrol cars, the impact that REACH is having on the metalworking sector or the adoption of synthetic oils in industrial applications.
Ahead of the Congress delegates took the opportunity for a welcome dinner at the Royal Carlton hotel which was sponsored by Viscolube and Conqord Oil (Q8). I sat next to Simon Mason from Kemat who told me about the investments he is making in his business to bring digitisation into the heart of his customer operations.
The formal event commenced on Thursday morning with Moderator Sebastian Crawshaw introducing UEIL President Valentina Serra-Holm who welcomed delegates to the event. Just as Valentina begins her second year as UEIL President this was to be Sebastian’s last year as Moderator, a role he is stepping down from immediately after the Congress having left his position with OATS Ltd and concluded the transfer of the lubricant market data management project from Europalub to UEIL over the summer.
58 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.142 DECEMBER 2017
Following Valentina, Apu Gosalia Vice-President of Sustainability and Intelligence at Fuchs PETROLUB and Chairman of the UEIL Lubricant Market Intelligence committee gave an overview of the project. He was followed by Gianluca Fenarioli from GAIL who welcomed delegates as the local host and gave an overview of the Italian lubricant market. Gianluca said that the Italian market was estimated at 400,000 metric tonnes and had experienced modest growth between 2010 and 2015. There were currently 49 million vehicles on the roads in Italy and lubricants were taxed at 800 euros a tonne which distorted the market. Italy was a net exporter of oil.
Up next was Russell Patten the new Secretary-General of UEIL. Russell challenged the Congress stating that Europe was in political turmoil with the Junckers commission less interested in the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union as retaining unity amongst the remaining EU 27. Russell said that business trust had been undermined by ‘Dieselgate’ and society expects business to be more transparent, honest and truthful in its dealings. This impact has led to business having an uncertain reaction to greater political risk in the environment. Business needs to take on political risk and engage positively with policymakers in these uncertain times by demonstrating its value to the economy and society.
The next section of the Congress was entitled Innovation in Lubricant Formulation and Performance. Christine Fuchs, who is in charge of Research and Development at the Fuchs Group, gave an engaging and stimulating presentation on the role and impact of digitisation on the sector. She looked at the impact
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