This is compared with about four respondents in the previous tender.   The weaker response could be due to the shifting market fundamentals and slow economic recovery. The shortlisting period for this project ended in the second week of the May.

Vitol and Transmontaigne, both who are established terminaling players in Florida, will participate in a combination of presentations and short listing meetings on May 23. A new terminal at Port Everglades would expand their fuel supply network and increase their market shares.   
Vitol is the owner and operator of a 2.8-million-bbl oil/ethanol terminal at Port Canaveral, and TransMontaigne is a major player in the Southeast regional fuel supply market.  TransMontaigne has existing storage tanks in Port Everglades. Last year, it constructed some new tanks there, totaling 438,000 bbl, for storing cutterstock and fuel oil.   
This is the third time the Broward County Commission has issued this tender to build a new terminal, following numerous delays associated with debates over economic benefits and tender process in the past two years.   Previous companies interested in building a new terminal at Port Everglades included Magellan Midstream Partners, Oiltanking Houston and Nustar Energy.   
Last May, Magellan won the previous tender, but it pulled out of the $80 million project unexpectedly in December 2010.   
“There were several delays in the regulatory process. During this time, market conditions changed and we reassessed our interest in the potential project in Port Everglades,” Bruce Heine, a Magellan spokesman, told OPIS  earlier this year.   Port Everglades is seen as the gateway to Miami and Fort Lauderdale on the Atlantic coast. It has about 12 oil terminals and a total storage capacity of about 11 million bbl. The capacity increased about 29% or 2.5 million bbl from two years ago.