Chemical Transportation and Storage
Petrochemicals are clearly a part of
modern life, and in many ways our
society and most industries depend on
such products. The petrochemical sector
has for many years been subject to
solid growth, and the worldwide use of
chemicals has increased considerably.
While the industrial nations have been
the driving forces behind this growth,
developing economies around the world
now account for major increases in
consumption.
Historically, the production of petrochemical products was based in the US and Europe. However, production capacity has been growing in Asia, South America, South Africa and particularly in the Middle East Gulf where Saudi Arabia plays a leading role. The new plants in these regions are mostly built for production of base chemicals, so called building blocks, whilst the production of derivatives and specialty chemicals still is mostly concentrated in the US and Europe. The manufacturing companies in the Middle East have clearly stated their intention to developing their business in the direction of further down-streaming.
Chemical production facilities have traditionally been located in areas with easy access to the raw materials. Historically, much of the petrochemical production was coal-based. Naphtha, a derivative from crude oil refining, is another raw material that is widely used, particularly in Asia. Nevertheless, the most commonly used raw material is derived from natural gas from which one gets ethylene and propylene, the two main building blocks for the chemical industry.
New plants are still being built in areas where natural gas is readily available, which is why we are seeing the biggest increases in production capacity in the Middle East.
The petrochemical industry is international
with both production and consumption
in all regions of the world. As a
result of mergers and acquisitions, many
of the petrochemical companies have
become global in their market approach.
Most of these companies have their main
focus on Asia and China in particular, the
region with the biggest current and future
expected growth in demand for chemical
products.
The petrochemical industry is in constant demand for logistics service providers capable of offering different types of storage and transportation. As of today there are a limited number of logistics service providers operating globally. Some of these companies are specialised for one type of service, like for instance bulk liquid storage. There are only some very few companies in existence with the ability to offer a multiple of different services on a global basis. Most shipping and storage companies are operating locally or within a certain region.
Odfjell is one of such few companies
offering the petrochemical industry a
worldwide network of bulk shipping and
storage services. Operating through offices
at central locations around the world,
Odfjell is a major player in the chemical
tanker segment and is operating in all
major trade lanes. Whilst chemical tankers
only represent a small percentage of
the total world fleet of ocean-going tankers,
for which the main cargo is crude oil,
there is a constant interplay between the
various segments of this huge market. As
far as the chemical tanker market is concerned,
there is a constant impact by the
handysize tankers (about 15,000-50,000
DWT). Handysize tankers are ships employed
for carriage of clean petroleum
products such as naphtha, gasoline, diesel
and gasoil.
A chemical tanker is designed and constructed
for handling of a multiple of different types of cargoes simultaneously
and combines different customers’
requirements under single voyages. Different
customers’ products are always
kept segregated. Chemical tankers are
often evaluated in two different categories;
ships with all or the majority of cargo
tanks made of stainless steel as opposed
to ships with only coated tanks. Ships with
coated tanks are typically engaged for carriage
of commodity-type chemicals, clean
petroleum products and vegetable oils.
The biggest trade for coated chemical
tankers are with full loads of commoditytype
chemicals from Northwest Europe,
the US or the Middle East Gulf to different
destinations in the Asia/Pacific region.
Backhaul cargoes are often vegetable oils,
molasses or clean petroleum products to
Europe or the US.
Organic chemicals:
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Ships with cargo tanks made of stainless
steel are often built to handle a higher
number of different products. These ships
are used for the most specialised types
of chemical products, which in addition For a global and long-term operator it is clearly an advantage to be in possession of a diversified but efficient mix of ships and as a result thereof, be able to adjust to changing market requirements. Odfjell carries nearly 700 different generic products every year, ranging from various organic chemicals such as alcohols, acrylates, aromatics as well as clean petroleum products, lubricating oils, vegetable oils, animal fats and inorganic chemicals like sulphuric and phosphoric acids. With frequent presence in all major trade
lanes, Odfjell is able to offer unique and
flexible services allowing customers to
ship small parcels from 100 to 150 tons to
full cargoes of up to 40,000 tons. By entering
into contracts of affreightments (CoA),
the customer can plan regular shipments
in order to meet required delivery targets
whilst they also help Odfjell from a scheduling
point of view. However, a significant
part of the cargoes carried by chemical
tankers are still fixed in the spot market,
often by trading companies taking advantage Odfjell’s strategy involves consolidation of loading and discharging operations at certain key hubs for chemical distribution. Our investments in small ships for transhipment purposes and in tank terminals at major ports such as Houston, Rotterdam, Singapore and Onsan play an important role in this respect. Tank terminals are an integral part of the chemical logistic chain and their services constitute a natural link between our traditional shipping services and inland transportation by different modes such as barges, railcars, trucks, ISO-containers and pipelines. Odfjell’s tank terminals handle, store and distribute bulk liquid chemicals to or from all different modes of transportation. |
