NNOAT continues to grow

WORKIN’ IN ANTWERPEN

PROJECTS • NOORD NATIE ODFJELL ANTWERP TERMINAL HAS CONTINUED WORK ON ITS LONG-RUNNING EXPANSION PLANS. AND THERE IS ROOM STILL FOR YET MORE GROWTH

NOORD NATIE ODFJELL Antwerp Terminal (NNOAT) has been expanding its facilities gradually over recent years and the project is making strong headway. HCB reported on this ongoing work in October 2018 (see page 43); one year on, Bert Druyts, commercial manager at NNOAT, here provides an update on the developments from the last 12 months.

In September 2018, two new tank pits were completed and opened, adding 32,700 m3 of storage capacity, and two further stages of the expansion project – Tank Field P and Tank Field Q/R/S/T – are in the development process. Tank Field P is planned to be a replica of the most recent tank field that was opened (Tank Field O), while final details of Tank Field Q/R/S/T are being concluded. Total storage capacity for the site could potentially reach another 130,000 m3 divided over several tank pits by 2022. Different tank sizes will be possible, ranging from 1,200 m³ to 5,000 m³. Furthermore, another 45,000 m2 of land is available for additional tank storage or related activities including blending, warehousing and/or ADR storage.

“Tank Field P is due to be operational in June of 2020,” says Druyts. “Tank Field P will be a copy of O with seven tanks in total; three tanks of 2,500 m3 and four tanks of 1,300 m3, all stainless steel and all with dedicated stainless steel lines. These will be specialised towards handling hazardous chemicals.” The tanks in the new development are fully automated.

MORE THAN A NUMBER But there is more than just the addition of tanks and increased storage volumes for the project. The ability to manage larger quantities of product by different modes of transport has received a large investment, with road-, rail- and sea-based transport benefitting. When discussing the developments for water transport, Druyts says: “We now have 2.5 km of berth length. I believe it’s the longest berth for a liquid terminal in the world. The big advantage is that it gives us the opportunity to handle 13 berths, of which nine can be used for seagoing vessels.” By the close of 2020, the maximum draft of much of the terminal’s berths will be increased from 11.3 m to 14.0 m.

Druyt continues: “Over the next ten years there will be a lot of road works around Antwerp to improve infrastructure, which is why we have decided to build a block train handling station. It will be finished by the end of 2019. This newly built area will be able to handle the loading and unloading of four rail cars at the same time. This means an entire block train of 20 cars will be able to be handled in just one shift. Single wagons can of course still be managed.”

The push to develop improved road and rail facilities have, in part, been fuelled by the recent troubles with low water levels in the Rhine and Druyts notes that there has been an increase in the use of rail over the last year.

NNOAT is currently in the process of attaining the necessary environmental and building permits for the next stage of expansion, which are expected to be completed early in 2020. HCB www.noordnatie.be