Also, Metro is working on a new rail project to link up its Brooklyn and Long Island diesel and biodiesel distribution terminals. Late last year, Metro opened a 1.06 million gal capacity biodiesel blending and distribution terminal at Enterprise Park at Calverton, N.Y.   

This will be the first time a fuel distributor offers biodiesel to waterborne vessels in New York City, Paul Pullo, owner of Metro, told OPIS in an interview on Tuesday.   

This will provide an alternative to existing distributors in New Jersey.   

Metro, which has sold diesel fuel to the maritime market for a number of years, has decided to move ahead with the fueling dock after consulting and receiving positive support from the New York City Economic Development Corporation and New York maritime associations.   

Those associations include the influential Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, the founder of the annual City of Water Day on New York’s Governor’s Island, of which Metro was a founding fuel sponsor, providing biodiesel for its ceremonial tugs and ferries.   

Metro is a family-owned energy company that supplies and delivers bioheat, biodiesel, heating oil, ultra-low-sulfur diesel, natural gas and gasoline in the New York Metropolitan Area with Metro’s own 55-truck fleet from its storage facilities.     

Metro’s marine dock at Newtown Creek, which is at to its Greenpoint terminal, will offer a biodiesel blend of B2 to B20 to the marine vessels, similar to the company’s offer for home heating oil.   

Metro will also offer ULSD to the marine vessels in New York City even though the lower-sulfur diesel is not currently required by the state or city. The maximum sulfur content for marine diesel is capped at 500 ppm.   

Pullo said that Metro’s price offers in the marine diesel market would be competitive with other biodiesel sellers in New Jersey.  

“Biodiesel is very much cleaner burning (than traditional diesel) and it is better for the environment,” Pullo said, adding that Metro has had a stellar track record of selling biodiesel in New York City since 2006.   

Also, biodiesel has more lubricity than traditional diesel, and it has no cold flow issues onboard ships as temperature seldom drops below freezing, he said.   

Chemical additives could also be added to combat cold flow issues if needed.

Rail Project

Metro is also working on a long-term rail project to link up its Brooklyn and Long Island terminals, eradicating the need for truck deliveries and streamlining its fuel delivery logistics, Pullo said.   

Metro is currently delivering fuel and biodiesel via trucks to Long island from Brooklyn. “About 5-10 rail cars in one trip could replace about 50 truck deliveries,” Pullo said. 

Metro’s was attracted to the EPCAL location, in large part because the long-term plan is to revitalize the rail and build a spur from an existing rail line in Long Island. The rail will serve the EPCAL business park at Riverhead. Metro’s Calverton facility is located at EPCAL, the vast former campus of Northrop Grumman.   

However, the timetable for the project is unknown, pending final approval from the Riverhead local authorities, but it is expected to be completed soon.   

At Calverton in Long Island, Metro has four fuel storage tanks, totaling 1.06 million gal.   

One tank holds 500,000 gal of diesel, and the second holds the same volume of No. 2 heating oil. The third tank is a grease accumulator tank that will store grease until it is shipped to the Brooklyn site for biodiesel production. Calverton also houses a biodiesel tank.   

Meanwhile, Metro is aiming to complete construction of a new 110-million gal/year biodiesel blending facility at Greenpoint, Brooklyn, by the end of 2012. 

After completion of the Brooklyn project, Metro’s storage capacity will rise to 10.46 million gal from 9.46 million gal.