New Kid on the Dock

The US is the biggest market for terminal tractors, where they are commonly used for horizontal transport in container yards. Traditionally, the market is dominated by Kalmar-owned Ottawa and Capacity of Texas, which produce around 2,800 and 1,000 units per year respectively. Now a new challenger is entering the terminal tractor sales market, with the aim of selling 500 units annually by five years' time. TICO Terminal Systems has established a reputation for its terminal tractors which, until now, it has built for its in-house fleet of outsourced vehicles.

Frank Tubbert - who was general manager and president of Ottawa, and continued working there when it became Sisu, and later Kalmar - has joined TICO to spearhead its sales campaign as director of retail sales. The company has already secured an order from P&O Ports for 52 units to be delivered, beginning in May, to various US terminal operations. "It is very unusual for a company to give such a large order to an upstart in a new product" says Tubbert. "One of the reasons I decided this was where I wanted to finish off my career was because TICO has an innovative spirit and it recognizes that it has large customers that have varying needs. Flexibility is a by-word and that is changing for the other suppliers in the US." Tim Orr, TICO's Executive Vice President says: "We didn't anticipate getting such a large order so soon, but all it has done has driven the sales side even harder. Because of our outsourcing business, we are probably the predominant player in heavy port applications on the US east coast and Gulf. We operate in all the major ports from New Jersey round through Houston, Texas, and even down in Puerto Rico.

"We look at our potential growth as being sales into the west coast ports and into warehouse, distribution and trucking in the interior of the US. We also certainly intend to be an international player, and some of the international terminal operators that we are working with have asked us about building a tractor they can use in the many overseas locations they operate in. We are working closely with them to show we can supply components they can source anywhere in the world."

P&O has traditionally owned equipment handling assets, and has also used TICO's outsourcing in the US over the last five years. "We offer major operators in the US, and soon the rest of the world, a complete package of terminal tractor and our own-built trailers," continues Orr. "Depending on the application and the environment, we can provide this type of equipment in any way from ownership of turnkey units or an hourly rental. We don't mind taking the risk of outsourcing, where we provide the capital. We will provide everything from turnkey maintenance, parts by the hour, or total sales. "One of the things P&O saw in us was the ability we had to supply not only units for sale when it is strategically advantageous to own the equipment, but also to supply them from neutral pools as well as dedicated rentals and leases. That is one of the major things that is working well for us with larger users of this type of equipment."

The experience gained from running its own fleet has given TICO a fairly unique understanding of the demands of terminal tractors. The need to guarantee that customers have the necessary resource led the company to design and build units that offer the lowest possible costs and the highest possible uptime.

"There are always problems with obsolescence, and relying on dealers for parts," says Orr. "We decided to build a component-based tractor that is very easy to repair with standard hand tools and semi-skilled labor resulting in maximum uptime for the vehicle and minimum true lifecycle costs. We currently operate a fleet of 1,200 outsourced tractors, which is probably the biggest in the US, if not the world."