Construction work to start on Tangier-Med Terminal
Work is starting on a bulk oil storage and bunker terminal at the new port of Tánger-Méditerranée (Tangier-Med) in Morocco.
Phase one is expected to be ready by the middle of next year, according to the developer, Horizon Tangiers Terminals (HTTSA), part of the United Arab Emirate-based Horizon Group.
"With its strategic location at the entrance to the Mediterranean and excellent connections to Europe, Tangier Med port is set to emerge as a major bunkering hub and refuelling port,” said Yusr Sultan, Chief Executive Officer of the Horizon Group.
He was speaking in Morocco at the weekend where he officially announced that the contract to build the terminal had been awarded to Netherlands-based Bateman Litwin, a contractor and technology provider to the global energy industry.
The Dutch firm said in January that it had won the contract.
The $130 million project is to be built in two phases. The bulk of the construction, building 370,000 cubic metres (m³) of storage space, will be in Phase One.
Phase Two, which is scheduled to begin as soon as the first phase is complete in mid-2009, will add another 130,000 m³.
The project’s backers say it will ensure a steady supply of bunker products to vessels calling at the new Tangier Med port and that it will provide a route for diesel and petrol for the Moroccan inland market.
It is not clear how much of the 500,000 m³ will be dedicated to bunker product, although in 2006 a Moroccan official close to the project said all but 100,000 m³ would be dedicated to marine fuel.
Horizon Tangiers Terminals is a consortium of Horizon Terminals Limited, the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), Kuwait-based Independent Petroleum Group (IPG) and Morocco's Afriquia SMDC.
The consortium was awarded the concession to build and operate the bulk fuels terminal by the Tangier Mediterranean Special Agency (TMSA) in 2006.
The Tangier Med project was launched in 2002 and is now gathering momentum.
The first of the new port's container terminals opened last July and a second is scheduled to begin operating later this year.
The concept is to use the port's location close to the Strait of Gibraltar to turn it into a major transhipment and logistics hub.
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| New port is close to Gibraltar Strait bunker market |
"With its strategic location at the entrance to the Mediterranean and excellent connections to Europe, Tangier Med port is set to emerge as a major bunkering hub and refuelling port,” said Yusr Sultan, Chief Executive Officer of the Horizon Group.
He was speaking in Morocco at the weekend where he officially announced that the contract to build the terminal had been awarded to Netherlands-based Bateman Litwin, a contractor and technology provider to the global energy industry.
The Dutch firm said in January that it had won the contract.
The $130 million project is to be built in two phases. The bulk of the construction, building 370,000 cubic metres (m³) of storage space, will be in Phase One.
Phase Two, which is scheduled to begin as soon as the first phase is complete in mid-2009, will add another 130,000 m³.
The project’s backers say it will ensure a steady supply of bunker products to vessels calling at the new Tangier Med port and that it will provide a route for diesel and petrol for the Moroccan inland market.
It is not clear how much of the 500,000 m³ will be dedicated to bunker product, although in 2006 a Moroccan official close to the project said all but 100,000 m³ would be dedicated to marine fuel.
Horizon Tangiers Terminals is a consortium of Horizon Terminals Limited, the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), Kuwait-based Independent Petroleum Group (IPG) and Morocco's Afriquia SMDC.
The consortium was awarded the concession to build and operate the bulk fuels terminal by the Tangier Mediterranean Special Agency (TMSA) in 2006.
The Tangier Med project was launched in 2002 and is now gathering momentum.
The first of the new port's container terminals opened last July and a second is scheduled to begin operating later this year.
The concept is to use the port's location close to the Strait of Gibraltar to turn it into a major transhipment and logistics hub.
Nick Jameson | Mon Feb 18 12:35 GMT 2008