April 24, 2013 [OPIS] - Dutch liquid bulk tank storage provider Vopak is planning to add 36,800 cbm of pressurized storage capacity to its terminal in the port of Flushing ("Vlissingen"), owing to growing demand from the LPG and chemical sector, the company said Tuesday.
The additional capacity in the form of six mounded bullet-type tanks is expected to be commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Three new tanks are designed to hold 7,650 cbm each and the remaining tanks 4,600 cbm each, with associated pipelines and racks to rail loading stations and jetty 1. Vopak sees the potential for further expansion at a later stage.
“There is enough market commitment to start the building process,” spokesman Gerbert van Genderen Stort said on the project, which is to boost capacity by more than a quarter to 168,200 cbm from presently 131,400 cbm.
Around 84% of existing capacity (110,000 cbm or two tanks of 55,000 cbm each) is used for the storage of LPG, according to the spokesman. Chemical gases are stored in smaller tanks, which hold as little as 3,300 cbm each. The Vopak Flushing terminal has a draught of 13.5 meters.
Propane trade contracts applying Ten-Days-Notice-Of-A-Three-Day-Loading-Window (ToT) standard terms and conditions refer to Flushing as basis port for delivered cargoes.
Details on how much incremental capacity will be dedicated to the storage of LPG were not available.
“Growing LPG supply is expected, resulting from additional supply from oil and gas production and the ban on flaring,” Rotterdam-based Vopak said in a statement.
“The increase of chemical gas storage demand is driven by production expansion in Europe and an expected global imbalance of certain chemical gases,” it added.
The independent company, which specializes in the storage and handling of liquid chemicals, gases and oil products, operates 85 terminals with a combined storage capacity of more than 30 million cbm worldwide.
