ITCO claims first with corporate responsibility code of practice launch

The International Tank Container Organisation (ITCO) has claimed to have launched the tank container industry’s first corporate responsibility code of practice.

An ITCO corporate responsibility workgroup has defined 18 key priorities that are of specific importance for the tank container industry to reach a harmonious balance between economic, environmental, local and ethical/legal aspects in the tank container industry.

Following a transition period of up to two years all ITCO members will be asked to sign the corporate responsibility code of practice.

Separately, ITCO will promote and measure the implementation of the code, while the association will at the same time update the code as corporate responsibility becomes widespread in the industry.

The tank container sector – with some 450,000 tank containers in operation – puts special emphasis on health, safety, quality and protection of the environment, according to ITCO.

In a statement, ITCO added: “In an industry to a large extent dealing with hazardous goods, this is crucial for sustainable success. Furthermore the tank container industry is a global industry. The detailed understanding of local differences – legally and culturally – has always been at the heart of the industry. Respectively high standards of business practices do apply.”

In general companies within the tank container industry prove corporate responsibility activities through programmes, audits or certificates of Safety & Quality Assessment System (SQAS), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and many more.

“We at ITCO believe that well-defined, integrated and communicated CR activities are a necessity for a successful, sustainable business,” said Heike Clausen, president of ITCO.

 

She added: “Therefore we developed the ITCO corporate responsibility code of practice as a minimum requirement that everybody in our diverse industry should commit to. However, we encourage all tank container companies to go beyond the code and look into their very specific business to identify corporate responsibility areas for improvement.”