Vopak Terminal Durban

Tank commanders

With a history spanning nearly four centuries, Vopak is the world’s largest provider of conditioned storage facilities for bulk liquids.

Whether it’s liquid or gaseous chemicals, oil products, petrochemicals, biofuels, vegetable oils or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Vopak offers complete storage and transhipment solutions at 80 terminals in 32 countries, covering and connecting the world’s major shipping lanes. Vopak offers more storage capacity than any other independent tank terminal operator in the world.

Vopak’s terminals play a key role in the transit of goods – products are transported from the terminal to end-users by vessel, railcar, tank truck or pipeline. The company develops its services according to product, market and functional requirements, often working closely with customers and/or strategic partners to discover the ideal solution.

Vopak is organised as six divisions:

• Chemicals Europe, Middle East & Africa
• Oil Europe, Middle East & Africa
• Asia
• China region
• North America
• Latin America

Vopak Terminal Durban, which is 100 per cent owned by Vopak, is part of the Vopak Chemicals EMEA division. It is an import/export/distribution terminal, which is used for storing products that are to be exported by local companies or imported and shipped to end users. Furthermore these terminals can be used in the distribution of local production.

With 130,000 cbm capacity, Vopak Terminal Durban boasts 165 tanks made of mild steel, coated steel and stainless steel. The terminal is accessible by ship, rail and truck, and offers four berths with 12 metres draught. It can store petroleum products, chemicals, vegoils and oleochemicals. The terminal offers various extra services, including blending and heating as well as weighing, nitrogen blanketing, and drumming.

The Chemicals Europe, Middle East & Africa division (CEMEA) operates 19 terminals with a total storage capacity of around 4.8 million cbm. Rotterdam/Antwerp is one of the main market regions in the network and a hub location with nearly 2.5 million cbm storage capacity. In addition, Vopak operates a terminal for the storage of gas in the Netherlands (Vlissingen) and chemical terminals in the UK, Finland, Germany, Spain and South Africa.

Vopak distinguishes itself by offering service solutions that address a single, crucial part of the supply chain and then takes it one step further. When clients choose to work with Vopak, its operational and safety standards apply to every country and to every continent where it operates. That means it offers uniform quality wherever clients take their shipments, conditioning their products, keeping them safe, and keeping them secure – from ship to shore and from shore to inland transportation.

Vopak’s experts, both in its offices and in the field, listen to clients’ needs and provide solutions to suit their specific liquids business. Its history and track record in bulk liquids storage, and health, safety and environmental care is unequalled in the sector.

To achieve this high quality performance, Vopak consistently applies and enforces strict Safety, Health, Environment & Quality (SHEQ) standards, rules, codes and procedures. Vopak believes that maintaining exemplary health and safety for its employees is vital, and this means the group constantly improves the working conditions and monitors the effectiveness of the controls that form the groundwork for the health and safety policy. The company wants to enter into long-term relationships with its employees by maintaining a correct balance between factors that they regard as important in their work, such as job satisfaction, personal development, competitive employment conditions, and work-life balance.

This approach to staff is reaping rewards – a recent company-wide employee survey revealed a very high engagement level and great enthusiasm by Vopak’s workforce. The strategy is understood and welcomed by a very high number of its employees. The number of accidents related to the number of labour hours, the Total Injury Rate (TIR) for own employees and contractors decreased to 5.1 in 2008 from 5.7 incidents per million hours worked in 2007, and the pursuit of zero incidents will be pursued relentlessly.

The speed of its growth necessitated smooth and effective transhipment and storage infrastructures at the Dutch harbours. Groups of weigh-house porters joined forces to offer the necessary services including weighing, sorting and storage.

Today Royal Vopak (Vopak) has evolved into the world’s largest independent tank terminal operator specialising in the storage and handling of liquid and gaseous chemical and oil products. Vopak’s strategy going forward concentrates on further expanding and optimising its network of tank terminals, providing specialist logistic concepts and entering into strategic alliances that provide related logistic services. The Vopak growth in Durban South Africa constitutes 100,000 additional cubes in 2010 and an extra 500,000 cubes planned for Richards Bay Terminal.

Vopak Terminal Durban

Services: Containment and transhipment of products