A Liquid Bulk Road Transport Tendering – Case Study

The base oil and lubricant part of a top-three energy and petrochemical company decided to focus on

20 feet dry and iso-tank containers for their global ocean freight tender project. This covered a yearly

volume of 60,000 containers (TEU). The tender project was divided in A-tenders covering 20% of

routes but 80% of volume, and B-tenders covering the remaining volume. Totally, A and B tenders

covered more than 900 ocean routes world wide.

A total of 190 VOCC, NVOCC and forwarders were

invited to answer a RFI. Most of them confirmed their interests and 67 qualified for the RFQ.

Arizona Chemical decided to invite all incumbents in addition to an extensive number of carriers from

the Traconi carrier base, all covering transport of liquid and hazardous chemicals.

Arizona Chemical, being an American company, also has a standardized, well established procedure

on having all invites to sign a secrecy / confidentiality agreement before receiving any information on

the tender.

A Liquid Bulk Road Transport Tendering – Case Study

The invited carriers had to be compliant with several special requirements in order to be considered

for final bidding round:

•60 % of the volume required temperature controlled heating for variable un-loading temperature

•There was a need for both single and multi-compartment tanks

•There was a need for pumps/compressors on the vehicles for un-loading

•There was a need for different certifications for hazardous goods

"This I could never have done myself. The complexity of optimizing the carrier selection indeed ask

for an analyzing tool like Traconi TTS."

Toon Bruining European Logistics Manager, Arizona Chemical

Arizona Chemical ended up with approx. 30 carriers tendering for one or more sub-tenders. They all

had to be ISO-9002 certified, or preparing for certification.

A Liquid Bulk Road Transport Tendering – Case Study

Arizona Chemical ended up with a mix of incumbents and new carriers. There was also a mix of small

and large hauliers depending on the mandatory minimum portfolio of routes to cover for the different

sub-tenders. Around 15 carriers were signed up for the project.

Arizona Chemical had two major goals for the tender project; cost reductions and a reduced number of

contracted carriers. The final result was beyond expectations on both.

Arizona Chemical is a leading, global supplier of pine chemicals for the adhesives, inks and coatings and

oleochemicals markets. Its products – including fatty acids, rosins and terpenes – are used to help make

fragrances, personal care items, adhesives, plastics, household cleaners, soaps, inks, paints, rubber

products, hydraulic fluids, roofing material and much more.