Leadership change at Polymer Logistics North America

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fred Heptinstall, the CEO of Polymer Logistics North America, a supplier of reusable packaging and merchandising systems, is stepping down effective December 31 of this year, as per Canplastics.

Heptinstall joined the Tampa, Fla.-based company – which is the North American division of global company Polymer Logistics – in mid-2016. Prior to that, Heptinstall was the president of IFCO Systems NA, starting in 2014. Before that, he was Chiquita Fresh North America for 13 years, with different roles, including executive vice president. He is a past chairman of the United Fresh Produce Association.

"Heptinstall joined Polymer Logistics as CEO North America when the company was launching its new wood-look reusable plastic containers (RPCs),” said Gideon Feiner, CEO of Polymer Logistics. “Under his leadership, Polymer Logistics North America has grown its customer base, put together a high-performance organization, and delivered innovative solutions to the marketplace."

Feiner will head the company until a successor to Heptinstall is hired.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- French oil and gas major Total said that deliveries of refined products from three of its French refineries and an oil depot were still blocked due to an ongoing strike in the sector, reported Reuters.

Deliveries from the Normandy, Grandpuits and Feyzin refineries are affected by the strike, a spokeswoman for the company said, adding that the La Mede oil depot was also impacted by the action.

The strike, which started last week in a dispute over pay and bonuses, has reduced output at some refineries and disrupted supplies.

Members of the French hard-left CGT trade union, which called the strike, will meet at midday Paris time to decide on any further course of action regarding the strike.

As MRC informed earlier, in December 2017, Total inaugurated the new units at its Antwerp integrated refining & petrochemicals platform, which have progressively started up in the last few months.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Houston, Tex.-based polymer reseller and distributor Vinmar Polymers America (VPA) has named a new commercial director for Canada, as per Canplastics.

The firm has appointed industry veteran Daniel Peretz to the role.

"Daniel will provide leadership to all commercial activities and implement our new platform in Canada," said VPA president Kirt Dmytruk. “Daniel brings with him a wealth of experience, including 20 years in the plastics industry as a plant manager, account manager, territory manager, market manager, and regional sales manager."

Peretz’s role is to focus on establishing a Canadian presence for VPA, Dmytruk added, and to roll out a sales support team to handle the Canadian market.

VPA was founded in August 2018 as a unit of Houston-based petrochemical marketing company Vinmar International.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hard-left French trade union CGT said on Friday it will call on its members to shut down operations at three of Total SA’s refineries in France on Monday afternoon if a final proposal to negotiate bonuses is rejected by management, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Oil industry workers were on strike for a third day on Friday at four of France’s seven refineries and unions urged employees to step up blockades to force the plants to halt production.

CGT spokesman Thierry Defresne said the union will make a final proposal to negotiate bonuses with Total’s management on Saturday. “If our proposal is rejected, we will propose to striking workers the shutdown of Grandpuits, Normandy and Feyzin petrol production units at midday on Monday,” Defresne said.

He added that workers at two major oil depots extended the strike at their sites on Friday evening until Monday afternoon.

Support for continued action on Friday came after unions rejected on Thursday a 1.5 percent salary increase offer by oil industry federation UFIP, saying it was below the French inflation rate. A spokesman for UFIP said talks to resolve the dispute had ended late on Thursday without agreement.

The CGT and fellow hard-left union FO have called on striking workers to step up blockades of refineries and fuel depots so companies are faced with supply shortages.

Defresne told Reuters earlier on Friday that Total’s Grandpuits refinery south of Paris, one of the refineries where workers remain on strike, was completely blocked and had only enough crude to continue functioning until Sunday midday.

He said later on Friday that the union had allowed crude deliveries at Grandpuits and Normandy refineries to keep them running at reduced output until Monday.But a Total spokeswoman said France’s CIM oil storage and dispatch services company, which supplies crude to refineries operated by Total and Exxon Mobil Corp, was working normally.

“Total denies the fact that the Grandpuits refinery will run out of crude, forcing a shutdown,” she said, although she said outbound deliveries of fuel from Grandpuits were blocked.

Some CIM employees staged a brief walkout on Thursday in solidarity with the striking refinery workers but they resumed work later in the day. The strike over pay and bonuses adds to challenges confronting fuel companies, which are also facing protests from the “yellow vest” movement of citizens who oppose higher fuel taxes and have sporadically blockaded oil depots this week.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Singapore Prime Evolue is likely to shut its metallocene linear low density polyethylene (mLLDPE) plant for maintenance, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Singapore informed that the company is expected to start maintenance at the plant in first week of January 2019. The plant is expected to remain off-line for around 45-50 days.

Located at Jurong Island of Singapore, the new mLLDPE plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

Prime Evolue was established in 2012 for the sales and production of Mitsui Chemical’s Evolue LLDPE in Singapore. The venture, owned 80% by Prime Polymer and 20% by Mitsui, and with a capital of USD115-million, built a 300,000-t/y Evolue production unit, as MRC wrote previously. Initially, construction was scheduled for completion in December 2014, with commercial operations to start during the second quarter of 2015. Equipment problems at feedstock provider Royal Dutch Shell postponed the planned August 2015 opening of the plant for making advanced PE Evolue until H2 2016.
MRC