January 21, 2014 [OPIS] - The port of Amsterdam has recorded in 2013 a 5.8% fall in oil product throughput volumes to slightly beneath 39 million mt (310-330 million barrels), weighed down by sluggish gasoline trade, initial estimates obtained from the port authority show.
The port, which specializes in gasoline blending, handled 21.66 million mt (184 million barrels) of gasoline or components, which was 9% or 2.15 million mt less than in the prior year.
Significant declines were also recorded in the “not-otherwise-specified petroleum distillates” segment (-21.7% to 3.01 million mt), which includes naphtha, further for gasoil and diesel fuel (-1.1% to 12.85 million mt) and for fuel oil and heavy fuels (-25.4% to 208,391 mt).
Stemming the downtrend was kerosene trade, with volumes more than quadrupling to 118,923 mt and in the category of unspecified “other oil products,” where throughput tripled to 1.03 million mt.
The port, which serves as major liquid bulk-breaking hub for shipments to Europe’s hinterland via the Rhine river, categorizes product trade in line with international transportation-of-dangerous-goods (TDG) regulation.
The Oiltanking Amsterdam (OTA) terminal is the port’s largest tank storage and blending facility, with a nearly 1.6-million-cbm (10-million-bbl) tank farm and pipeline connections to the Schiphol airport and North Sea production platforms. It handles gasoline and components, kerosene, gasoil, diesel, jet A1, naphtha, molasses, chemicals and treats crude oil for further processing at nearby refineries.
Other main terminals include VTTI’s Eurotank facility, part owned by Vitol, which can store almost 1.4 million cbm of oil products (gasoline, kerosene, gasoil, diesel and vacuum gasoil); BP’s 1-million-cbm storage, blending and upgrading assets; Vopak’s 1.2-million-cbm Amsterdam Westpoort terminal with additivation, blending and butanizing facilities; and NuStar’s 600,000-cbm terminal for gasoline, gasoil, diesel and fuel oil.
