Construction is underway on the new Royal Vopak Linkeroever terminal in Antwerp, Belgium, and the facility is expected to be in operation by May 30, 2008, according to Vopak information.
The first phase of the terminal consists of 60 tanks with a total capacity of 100,000 cubic meters (26.4-million gallons), eight loading racks for trucks and railroad tankcars, and three mooring places (one jetty for seagoing vessels and two jetties for coasters or inland tank barges).
This chemical distribution terminal can grow to 400,000 cubic meters (105.6-million gallons) within the next years. It will service the chemical manufacturing plants in the region and accommodate the Benelux storage market on a European scale. The new downstream manufacturing facilities in the Middle East will increasingly supply the Rotterdam and Antwerp harbors as gateways into Europe, Vopak said.
As part of its strategy for upgrading and expanding in world scale ports Vopak has sold the Hemiksem terminal in Antwerp to Transcor International, a subsidiary of Transcor Astra Group, in joint-venture with the Antwerp based bunker company Verbeke Bunkering. The transfer will take effect after the completion of the first phase of the Vopak Terminal Linkeroever and after the transfer of most of the business to the other Vopak locations in Antwerp, ultimately by the end of 2008. Part of the employees will transfer to the buyer of the terminal and part of the personnel will be transferred to other Vopak locations in Antwerp.