Reports say work is underway for a major expansion of the SEA-Tank terminals in the Belgian hub port of Antwerp.

According to the news service TankTerminals.com, the new terminal should be operational by September next year.

It said the facility would have an initial capacity of 520,000 cubic metres (m³).

Plans call for it to be used for the transshipment of petroleum products as well as bunkering operations and the loading of bunker barges.

The report said the terminal would have a 1250-metre quay allowing up to 17 vessels to load and discharge simultaneously.

The terminal will be built to handle seagoing vessels with a draft of up to 14.5 metres, as well as coastal tankers and barges.

There will be 29 storage tanks, including one of 48,000 m³ capacity, which will be the largest independently owned tank Antwerp.

The terminal will have the capacity to handle 12 million metric tonnes (mt) of product annually.

SEA-Tank is part of the  SEA-Invest group, which operating terminals in Belgian, French, German and African ports.

The SEA-Tank terminals in Antwerp began operations two years ago with an initial capacity of  200.000 m³.

The development is the latest infrastructure upgrade in Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) fuel oil and bunker hub.

In May, Vopak announced it was building a new fuel storage terminal in Amsterdam with a potential storage capacity of over 1.1 million m³.