Vopak builds storage for Rotterdam bio-refinery

IN BRIEF

USA/EU: Renewable fuel producer Renewable Energy Group (REG) announced on 18 February that it is in a partnership with marine fuel supplier and trader Bunker Holding Group to further develop marine markets for biodiesel in the USA and the EU. The agreement would initially focus on opportunities in North America and Europe, where trials of B20 and B30 were being run in high-traffic regions of both continents, REG said.

USA: US energy infrastructure company Kinder Morgan (KMI) said on 7 February that it would build a new renewable diesel hub in Southern California, enabling customers to aggregate renewable diesel batches (R99) in the Los Angeles area and move them on the SFPP pipeline system to high demand markets in Colton and Mission Valley, California, creating up to 20,000 barrels/day of blended diesel truck throughput capacity, with the ability to expand in the future.

Upon completion, the Southern California hub would be the first of its kind in the USA to transport batches of renewable diesel by pipeline to transmix – a process designed to enable customers to avoid the loss of the California renewable tax credits, including Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits, KMI said.

Vopak builds storage for Rotterdam bio-refinery

Leading independent tank storage company Royal Vopak is building storage for a Shell biorefinery in the Netherlands, Tank Storage magazine reported on 17 February.

Under the terms of the long-term deal between the two companies, Vopak will store and supply feedstocks from its Vlaardingen terminal to the global energy giant’s biorefinery in Rotterdam, according to the report.

Shell’s 820,000 tonnes/year biorefinery at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam will produce fuels such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel from waste feedstocks including used cooking oil (UCO), waste animal fat and other industrial and agricultural residual products, Tank Storage wrote. The waste feedstocks would be supplemented with sustainable vegetable oil.

The Shell refinery would be one of Europe’s largest SAF-production facilities, with Vopak’s feedstock operation also one of the largest of its kind in the biofuels industry, the report said.

Vopak was building 16 new tanks at its Vlaardingen site with a total capacity of 64M litres (64,000m3), with a number of old tanks being demolished to make space for the new tanks. Other existing infrastructure would be modified to handle waste-based feedstocks.

Suez Canal Authority increases toll rates

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has introduced a new set of canal tolls on all vessels travelling both north and south, effective from 1 March, American Shipper reported on 28 February.

Depending on carrier type, the increase was either 5%, 7% or 10% for both full and empty vessels.

The increase was the second toll increase on all vessels, with the exception of LNG and cruise ships. Those two vessel classes were not affected when the SCA announced in early November that it would increase transit tolls through the canal by 6% beginning in February, the report said.

The latest price rise meant a one-way transit would

The cost of a one-way transit through the Suez Canal for a large container ship will increase by US$50,000, effective 1 March

increase from US$625,000 to US$675,000 for a large container ship, Xeneta chief analyst Peter Sand said.

Due to the length of voyage time from China to the USA and the increase in fuel prices, carriers would have to decide whether to go around the Horn of Africa and use more fuel or go through the Suez Canal, the report said.

Shipping cost hikes could benefit US soya, corn exports

A new study by economists from the University of Georgia and North Dakota State University (UGA-NDSU) has found that a recent increase in shipping costs could boost US exports, World Grain reported on 3 March.

While rising rates had affected exporters of corn, soyabeans and a range of other commodities, the UGA-NDSU team found that recent spikes in those shipping rates – after factoring in inflation – did not necessarily differ from the historic norm.

“Our main findings are that ocean transportation freight rates rise with the things that economists might expect would cause those rates to rise such as the demand for shipping, fuel prices and congestion at destination ports. And they tend to fall with increases in the fleet capacity, the ability of the fleet or the size of the fleet measured in deadweight tonnage,” UGA associate professor Michael Adjemian said.

The study also looked at the effect of rising maritime transportation prices on the global market share for corn and soyabeans. Its simulation model indicated the USA gaining about a 4% market share in soyabeans and Brazil’s share dropping by the same percentage.

For corn, the USA and Brazil both gained at the expense of Argentina and Ukraine.

“This makes sense because even though the USA is closer to China than Brazil is, these ocean freight rises and congestion challenges are going to act eventually to shorten supply chains,” Adjemian said.