This follows the decision to scrap two final bids to a previous tender early last month. The previous bidders had hoped to begin work on the terminal project immediately, targeting a completion in 12-18 months.
County staff is currently reviewing technical, commercial and procedural issues of the solicitation with the intent of recommending to the County Commission rebidding the project, possibly with modified conditions. It would
take about six weeks to solicit the bids.
However, the retender process is likely to push back the tentative project completion date by at least another six months to possibly the later half of 2011 or early 2012.
A fast-track timetable would be vital to the competitiveness of the new oil terminal project at Port Everglades as the oil storage market in South Florida is becoming overcrowded.
Between 2008 and 2010, a significant number of tank expansion projects have been planned for the Southeast, especially Florida. The Southeast region could see more than 10 million bbl in new storage capacity if all projects for 2009-
2010 completion go ahead as planned. A quick and timely start-up could be essential to capture market share.
In the previous tender at Port Everglades, Magellan Midstream Partners LP aimed to build a new 1.68-million bbl capacity terminal. This project is geared towards oil products and renewable fuels. A Brazilian ethanol producer and environmental services firm, Cepemar World Renewable Fuels, planned to renovate an existing terminal and keep the
capacity intact at 960,000 bbl. The focus of the Brazilian project was on ethanol.
A County Commission-appointed selection committee will carry out an open evaluation of the bids and decide on the best package delivered by bidders to the county. It will also look into the history and qualification of the bidders.
There were some concerns about the local status of Cepemar in the previous tender. Some county commissioners were not convinced that Cepemar had a local office in Florida.
TransMontaigne, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, was listed as the No. 3 ranked bidder in the previous tender.
The midstream company could be back for the second tender at Port Everglades as it is in an active expansion mode.
TransMontaigne had completed constructed of some new tanks at Port Everglades, totaling 438,000 bbl, for storing cutterstock and fuel oil.
Itapco, a subsidiary of TransMontaigne, is expected to build two new tanks at Jacksonville, but there has been no progress report so far.
Besides securing three firm final bids and a good package from the bidders, the County Commission will have to deal with unresolved issues involving local politics as well as weigh the pros and cons of allocating more storage space to oil products or ethanol.