Could you introduce Ouray to our international audience?

Founded in 2011 and based out of Colorado, our legacy service is emergency response, providing turnkey emergency response solutions anywhere in the world. In the US, we also diversified to chemical transloading and certified railcar repair. Furthermore, we have an ISO depot in Charleston, South Carolina, adding to our suite of services specifically designed for chemical manufacturers and shippers. About 90% of our customers are large chemical manufacturers engaged in global shipping operations, both in bulk and small packages. Approximately 10% of our customers are ISO tank operators. Our niche is highly hazardous commodities and performance chemicals.

Could you elaborate on Ouray’s footprint in Asia?

We expanded to Singapore specifically at the request of our customers that operate in this region. Together with other leading chemical players including Dow, Eastman, Solvay, Chemours, Ineos, Lubrizol, Momentive, and Huntsman, we started our Asia Pacific program, headquartered in Singapore, but supporting Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, as well as India, China, South Korea, Japan, or Australia.

Singapore serves as our corporate base and the ideal location for storing and shipping equipment to the rest of the region. With our current staff combined with over 100 people available on a subcontractor base within the region, we have the capabilities to be ready to serve our customers no matter where they are shipping within the region.

Do you plan to expand to other regions?

We have always followed our customers and their needs, which has led us from North America to Latin America, and then to Asia. Since most of our customers have assets in Europe too, this would be the next step, though the European market is very different from others.

Why is Ouray’s expertise important in the chemical value chain?

Our services are mostly required around the transportation of dangerous goods (DGs). We intervene when there has been a truck wreck during a drum or ISO tank shipment, or even when a container has become out-of-date or failed in some way and we need to transload the material, which could be hazardous or not. We also provide management services for large chemical plant or storage tank fires. Ouray brings in advanced chemistry and innovative solutions to neutralize waste materials in countries that lack adequate disposal capabilities. Additionally, we offer audit services, to ensure that transporters and warehouses have the appropriate equipment and understanding to minimize the occurrence of incidents.

What are the current demand trends underpinning Ouray’s performance?

Based on our process flows and customer interactions, we have seen a decline in volumes through the first half of this year. This trend is noticeable in the ISO tank market, where many ISOs remain in storage. This has somewhat impacted our transloading business, but we have been able to grow through this time through new customer acquisition. In APAC, our focus lies on client acquisition and providing closer support to our clients in their respective territories, such as India. Among our customers, we note a heightened awareness of preventative safety practices. Also, Ouray sees a lot of growth in those exceedingly hazardous chemicals such as fluoridated and brominated materials.

Over the past six months, we have been consistently expanding our customer base, making Ouray busier than ever. In fact, we struggle to find the right people to be able to keep up with new orders. The scarcity of emergency response service providers dealing with hazardous materials in the US has positioned us in a highly sought-after niche.

Ouray organizes the Transportation & Response Symposium in September. Can you tell us more about this event?

The Ouray Transportation & Response Symposium takes place in Denver, Colorado, from September 24th to 27th this year. The event primarily caters to chemical shippers including LANXESS, Shell, Huntsman, Lubrizol, among others, as well as ISO tank operators such as ITT and Bertschi. During my tenure on the board of the Dangerous Goods Advisory Council, I recognized the need for a platform that brings together shippers, transporters, and service providers (like chemical response, industrial hygienists and industrial firefighting) under one roof to discuss current market needs, regulatory changes, and compliance issues in the transportation sector.

Do you have a final message?

Our foremost objective is expanding our geographical coverage and providing key services. We take great pride in our high customer retention rate.