ABOUT

We are here to help companies in the liquid bulk and chemical industry realize supply chain resilience and sustainability.

Hey, I am Rudi

Here is what you can expect from me on my website and receive in your email.

You can find actionable strategies and tips you can use for free to develop supply chain resilience and sustainability. These can follow with opportunities for you to take the next steps with me in the form of attending a webinar, workshop, or event, for example.

But you may still be wondering…

How do you know if my material is good?

The easiest smart thing to do is check out some of my free materials.

If you find them useful, you probably will like the pieces of training I provide. And if you enjoy my training, you’ll also find our other programs and services valuable.

And if you don’t like the free stuff, you probably won’t.

I guess it’s about time now to do the obligatory biography to let you know more about myself, so here it comes.

I am from Belgium and have been living in Asia for two decades. For more than 25 years, I worked in the liquid bulk and chemical industry out of the exciting cities of Brussels, Kaohsiung, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Singapore.  Today I live in the bustling city of Taipei.

I have been fortunate to have worked for an oil and chemical major, one of the largest tank terminal operators, a global chemical shipbroker, and logistics companies. As a result, I have developed extensive experience in parcel tanker shipping, tank storage, tank containers, flexitanks, chemical warehousing, secondary distribution, and other logistics services. My journey allowed me to work with producers, traders, brokers, shipping companies, storage operators, logistics service providers, and many other industry players to develop resilient supply chains. Sustainability has always been my top priority, and I am known as a promoter of health and safety.

After my studies, I started my career in 1996 in Brussels with the global forwarder Expeditors.  My interest in hazardous goods was already clear early on, becoming the IATA dangerous goods adviser for the company at Brucargo.

I moved to Asia in 1998 to join Vopak in Taiwan (Van Ommeren became Vopak in 1999).   I gained experience offering integrated supply chain solutions, including storage, freight, and transportation management. Being on board ships in the port of Kaohsiung, monitoring loading and unloading operations, supervising storage operations, and inventory control are examples of exciting and invaluable real hands-on experiences.

In 2002 I decided to return to Belgium to join Total Petrochemicals (now TotalEnergies), where I held various logistics posts. Following a brief time in Paris, I worked at the feedstock supply department (naphtha, butane) in Brussels to monitor paper swaps, feedstock shipments, and inventory levels in Belgium and France.  I then shifted to base chemicals (ethylene, propylene, C4, aromatics, and styrene) to charter gas and chemical tankers for the European demand and coordinate barge tenders covering the ARA region and Rhine River.  In addition, I supported tank storage, rail, road, and intermodal contracting requirements and was involved with the implementation of SAP.  Besides this, I had a short spell at refining, providing support for intercontinental petroleum shipments in direct coordination with the trading desk.  I was also appointed project manager to set up a demurrage cost center. The successful project resulted in understanding the causes of delays, implementing operational improvements, and refusing/recovering demurrage. The shift from working for a logistics service provider to an oil and chemical major was an excellent opportunity to learn more about HSEQ and functional organizations.

In 2005 I went back to Asia for Total, where I was Logistics Manager for the Asia Pacific based in Hong Kong. I successfully developed Total’s regional liquid bulk supply chain to support the new regional trading and manufacturing activities. The health and safety performance of potential service providers was a challenge, so I started guiding regional companies on HSEQ so that we could enter into transport or storage agreements. I negotiated COA and spot shipping contracts, and operated Total’s first-ever chemical time-charter vessel in Asia to secure vessel space for captive and trading activities. Unused vessel space was placed in the market, propelling me to shipowner looking for charterers. As the logistics manager, my task was to guarantee captive requirements and support trading opportunities, including geographical and technical arbitrage. I learned how to leverage, create flexibility, and support opportunities in often tough market conditions. Challenging events that I had to navigate with solutions included lack of ship availability, severe weather conditions, incidents, plant shutdowns, force majeure, and the global financial crisis, to name a few.

In April 2010, I joined SPI Marine in Singapore as General Manager of Integrated Logistics Solutions to develop liquid bulk shipping and logistics activities to complement parcel tanker shipbroking. In early 2014 I assisted SPI Marine in forming Contralo Asia (now called Manuport Logistics Asia), a company active in forwarding services for bulk liquids, including Isotanks and flexitanks.

I became fascinated with all aspects of the liquid bulk supply chain and how they are interlinked and a big promoter of health and safety. I learned to build resilient and sustainable supply chains the hard way during an exciting 20 years in the office and on-site. In 2015, I realized that my career took me through the whole supply chain and provided me with unique experience in the industry. So, in my mind, I said, what’s next?

Throughout my journey, I never found someone who could elaborate practically on the interlinked parts of the whole liquid bulk supply chain.  Training courses and advice from consultants were expensive and always left me with more questions and often no results.  I quickly learned that I was not alone.

That led me to start as a consultant to share my hard-learned experience with industry peers. I set up ener8 in 2015 in Hong Kong with a branch office in Taipei.

I have learned all the mistakes that you should avoid, and many of my thoughts, tips, and tricks have been written on my blog and in magazines, such as Tank News International and Storage Terminals Magazine. I decided to help traders, supply chain professionals, and service providers in the liquid bulk and chemical industry since there is nothing more satisfying than guiding industry peers. I have built my reputation by being honest, hard-working, and overdelivering.

Many people think that creating supply chain excellence is difficult to achieve and that consultants are always expensive.  Fortunately, that is not true.  There is a playbook for you, even if you have a small team or limited resources. You can get results too.  And the beautiful thing for you is that I am your go-to guy to get immediate access to this playbook to build a liquid bulk and chemical supply chain for less time and money.

My mission is to share this playbook with you and help you develop supply chain excellence with my unique hands-on methods.

My main focus is to help you develop a resilient and sustainable supply chain.

I am the creator of the ener8 Supply Chain Resilience Proof Method and Supply Chain Sustainability Proof Method, two methods to help you build supply chain excellence in the liquid bulk and chemical industry.

This is my first suggestion to you!

Visit my blog and read some insightful articles on my site and download my free whitepaper to get access to the playbook for resilient and sustainable liquid bulk supply chains.

If you like this, sign up for our free webinar – From production to delivery: How to effortlessly build a resilient and sustainable liquid bulk supply chain.

If this helps you, please consider using our paid services when I make you an offer. Also understand that I’m making you a very good offer to give you the tools to build a sustainable and resilient supply chain to accelerate your growth, faster and cheaper than on your own.

Pretty simple, right?

Thanks for reading this page and get started!

To your success,

Rudi

Values

We are innovative, customer-focused, and are working towards the highest quality and excellence. We are honest, open, ethical, and fair in everything we do, prioritizing our ambition to be a sustainable company.

Mission

Our mission is to help companies in the liquid bulk and chemical industry realize supply chain resilience and sustainability. Regardless of your company size, from regional to global operations.

Work with us to…

Create a sustainable supply chain
Improve supply chain resilience
Exploit more opportunities
Realize more market share
Enhance career development
Build a strong organization