Bulktransporter 581 St Gabriel
Bulktransporter 581 St Gabriel
Bulktransporter 581 St Gabriel
Bulktransporter 581 St Gabriel
Bulktransporter 581 St Gabriel

St Gabriel Tank Wash ramping up in Louisiana

March 1, 2012
A NEW chemical wash rack is scheduled to open in St Gabriel, Louisiana, by the end of March. Construction crews are putting the final touches on the new

A NEW chemical wash rack is scheduled to open in St Gabriel, Louisiana, by the end of March. Construction crews are putting the final touches on the new six-bay facility, located at 4250 Geigy Access Rd.

St Gabriel Tank Wash LLC will be able to clean a wide range of chemical products, including isocyanates and P-listed chemicals. When fully operational, the wash rack should be able to clean 1,200-plus tank trailers a month, according to Galen Younger, co-owner of St Gabriel Tank Wash.

“We should be able to handle virtually any chemical cleaning our customers send us,” he says. “We spent more than 2½ years planning this wash rack, and we found during our research that there was a definite need for more chemical tank cleaning capacity in this area.

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Four of the wash bays are inside the main 10,900-sq-ft building. Two outside wash bays are immediately adjacent to the main building and plans are to enclose those two bays as cleaning demand grows. One interior bay is designated for tractor pump and hose cleaning, and anotherbay will be reserved for pre-loading preparation of tank trailers. Nitrogen will be available for the pre-load prep process.

The vat-style wash system was designed in-house and built by a local fabricator. Two natural gas-fired Bryan 135-horsepower vertical boilers provide enough steam to steam out eight to 10 tank trailers at a time.

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The wash rack has a caustic scrubber for capturing and treating vapors from the cleaning vats, sumps, spinners, and wastewater treatment system. The facility also has a 40-ft-high flare that will be used for degassing MC331 trailers. “Our flare will be operational by April,” Younger says.

Initially, the wash rack will handle chemical tank trailers and tank containers on chassis. “Customers have to send us the tank container on a chassis, because we don't have any handling capability,” he says. “In the future, we'll add cleaning capabilities for totes, roll-off boxes, and frac tanks.”

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Younger adds that St Gabriel Tank Wash has plenty of room for tenants on the 5.5 acres that are already developed. Total size of the location is 10 to 12 acres, which means there is plenty of room for expansion.

“Our customers will be able to provide their own portable office buildings, and we don't charge any rent for the space,” he says. “We're also willing to build more permanent structures that can serve as fleet maintenance shops. We would lease these building to our customers.

“We're very excited about the wide range of services that we will be able to offer at St Gabriel Tank Wash, and we know our customers also are looking forward to its opening,” Younger says. “We can't wait to get the whole operation up and running.” ♦

About the Author

Charles Wilson

Charles E. Wilson has spent 20 years covering the tank truck, tank container, and storage terminal industries throughout North, South, and Central America. He has been editor of Bulk Transporter since 1989. Prior to that, Wilson was managing editor of Bulk Transporter and Refrigerated Transporter and associate editor of Trailer/Body Builders. Before joining the three publications in Houston TX, he wrote for various food industry trade publications in other parts of the country. Wilson has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Kansas and served three years in the U.S. Army.

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St Gabriel 2012

March 22, 2012