Hazardous liquids bulk container specialist THIELMANN has acquired German transport container inspection and cleaning company CONTek IBC-Service .

CONTek’s knowledge in services for intermediate bulk containers (IBCs) aligns with THIELMANN’ growth strategy to be the world’s leading one-stop shop for the container industry.

Based in Ellrich, Germany, CONTek is a world leader in the cleaning, maintenance and inspection of containers especially for the chemical and automotive coatings industry. CONTek’s automated cleaning facility is optimized to clean containers with a capacity from 250 to 1,200 litres. THIELMANN is a one-stop shop for each and every need within the stainless steel container industry, supplying containers with storage capacity between 5 and 50,000 liters.

CONTek is very successful in the high-end cleaning sector and THIELMANN is planning to build on their strength in the future and to further grow the business on-site in Ellrich. Fredi Endtricht, CONTek´s co-founder will continue to lead the company as Managing Director, with a special focus on the expansion of the facilities and production capabilities.

“THIELMANN is growing. Our strong organic growth is supported by selected acquisitions, especially of specific competencies. CONTek is perceived as an undisputed leader in cleaning of IBCs.” said Bernd Loeser, CEO of THIELMANN.

“With its integration, THIELMANN will complement its current service portfolio in different container sectors and CONTek will benefit from access to a broad global customer base and THIELMANN’s world-leading expertise in the container industry.”

“With THIELMANN, we found the best owner for our life’s work," said Wolfgang Kuhn, CONTek’s co-founder, who left the company from an operational level on September 30th. He will continue to support THIELMANN as an advisor "As initially planned, CONTek can grow and expand its capacity.”

CONTek will be renamed THIELMANN CONTEK within the next weeks to fully integrate CONTek into THIELMANN.

THIELMANN IBCs and tank containers have approvals for transporting more than 1,800 hazardous liquids, toxic gases and dry-powder bulk worldwide. It is the world’s leading manufacturer of stainless steel containers.