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AquaChemie Middle East – a leading regional chemical distributor with an extensive supply chain network and manufacturing base across the GCC region – is poised to build a state-of-the-art chemical terminal facility at Jebel Ali Port in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Estimated to cost AED 150 million (USD 40 million), the one-of-its-kind facility will serve as a strategic gateway hub to enable and facilitate vital petrochemical trade across the GCC region and beyond. The new facility will benefit the global petrochemicals market valued at AED 146.5 trillion (USD 539.3 billion) in general and the UAE in particular.
AquaChemie Middle East has signed on Mott MacDonald – a renowned global engineering, management and development consultancy – for the design, engineering and project management of the chemical terminal, scheduled to be commissioned by mid-2021.
As one of the top technical consultants in the world Mott MacDonald’s services are at a premium and AquaChemie Middle East selected them exclusively, to ensure that the mega project is safe, sustainable and efficient.
The new chemical terminal will leverage its prime site location at Jebel Ali Port operated by DP World, including multiple jetty pipelines, along with other crucial existing utility and building support infrastructure.
In its entirety, the new chemical terminal will also comprise bulk storage tanks for liquid hydrocarbons(approximately 30,000m3 total capacity) along with day tanks, chemical processing units, automated drumming lines, tanker loading-unloading gantry with top loading arms, covered warehousing for storage of NFPA class 1B and C chemicals, separate dry goods storage area, pump house and main hose exchange station, separate road tanker entrance with weigh bridge, loading and unloading ramp for forklift operation, office block with control room, dedicated road tankers and large trailer truck fleet, and a fully-equipped firefighting unit.
Core to the new project will be extremely high standards of safety - meeting stringent DP World EHS norms - and international guidelines brought in by Mott MacDonald, which has lent its expertise to the GCC region for over 50 years.
Outlining the key benefits the new chemical terminal will provide to the UAE petrochemicals sector, V. Anandkumar, Co-Founder and Director of AquaChemie Middle East, said: “The project will serve as a catalyst to boost petrochemical trade between manufacturers in the region and end-users anywhere in the globe. In addition to serving as a sales channel, the project will also allow regional petrochemical majors to market their various product lines in drums or intermediate bulk containers for distribution to the tertiary chemical industry.”
“The project will also serve as a regional hub for other global trading partners to ship economically, in bulk and distribute in smaller packaging, while AquaChemie Middle East will take stock position based on attractive spot deals to meet spread-out demand of the market. The project will also boost the industry ecosystem of related businesses, such as construction and services during the project phase and packaging material (drums, pallets, etc.) and transportation”, added AnandKumar.
Elaborating further on the additional business models that the new chemical terminal will serve, Subrato Saha, Co-Founder and Director of AquaChemie Middle East, stated: “It will adhere to a fill locally and ship globally modus operandi by sourcing by-product streams available in the region at attractive terms, collecting them in storage tanks and exporting in bulk, while also allowing cross sale via direct source and supply in bulk from high seas without touching the AquaChemie Middle East facility.
Saha added: “The project will also facilitate the manufacture and distribution mode that will see certain products being processed or manufactured regionally and sold globally.”
“The new chemical terminal facility will directly boost DP World revenues from the port; both by increase in cargo handling, as well as lease rentals”, further commented Saha.
Saha confirmed AquaChemie Middle East will employ around 100 people locally in two years’ time and will double its employees’ base by the year 2025.
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