RUSSIA: Metafrax has awarded United Wagon Co’s TikhvinChemMash plant a contract to supply a further 100 Type 15-6880 methanol tank wagons by May, saying the decision was taken following the good operating performance of a previous batch.

The chemical producer currently has more than 400 1-T and Tpr tank wagons. The Type 15-6880 has a 25 tonne axleload and offers a capacity of 73 tonnes or 88 m³,  with the increase of 2 tonnes compared to older designs enabling the shipper to reduce the size of its fleet and also the cost of terminal operations.

The wagons are designed for maintenance intervals of 1 million km or eight years and have a design life of 32 years compared to 24 years for older vehicles, which UWC said would ‘slash’ lifecycle costs.

Announcing the latest order on December 19, UWC said it expected ‘very high’ demand for methanol wagons over the next five years, as old vehicles are withdrawn and 20 capacity enhancement projects at chemical production sites are set to increase output of methanol to more than 20 million tonnes/year.