WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 17051 [post_author] => 34 [post_date] => 2020-02-24 09:15:10 [post_date_gmt] => 2020-02-24 09:15:10 [post_content] =>

London-based Global Transportation and Logistics (GTL) emerged into the oil storage and terminal business in 2014 by acquiring two operational facilities in Aabenraa, Denmark and Kaliningrad, when the owner Khofiz Shakhidi, took over Pan European Terminals plc and de-listed it from the AIM Market London. Since then, under Shakhidi’s leadership, GTL Terminals Ltd has managed to stay ahead of the curve, particularly since the oil market crash of 2014, by continually monitoring market conditions to adapt its product storage portfolio and product handling expertise and by boosting results year-on-year, even in what could be considered as hostile oil market conditions.

Dan-Balt Tank Lager A/S (DBTL), located on the Aabenraa fjord in Aabenraa, Denmark, is the larger of the group’s two terminals with a storage capacity of some 165,000 m³. The terminal is classified as a class III storage facility, which permits the storage and handling of products with a flash point above 55°C. DBTL is registered in the country as a customs warehouse, granting T1 (non-community goods) product handling and storage custody.

Recently, DBTL has been going through the process of registering itself as an excise tax warehouse alongside its customs warehouse categorisation, a registration that will make active blending of T1 with T2 and other products possible, combined with the benefit of being able to move blended products between excise tax warehouses through the Excise Movement Control System (EMCS).

DANISH DEVELOPMENT

Built in the early 1970s, DBTL grew from a small terminal initially comprising five large-capacity steel tanks, ranging in size from 10,000 m3 to 30,000 m³. The tanks were built to store gasoil and fuel oil and were equipped for heating, a feature that the terminal still maintains. In the 1980s the terminal went through a larger expansion, with the installation of ten new steel tanks with capacities between 300 m³ and 10,000m³.   

From then through to the late 1990s, the terminal worked as a distribution hub for fuels in the country based on exchange contracts with larger oil marketing companies, while also serving the bunkering market through its sizable inventory of fuel oil and ready access to the Aabenraa harbour. Of late, DBTL has functioned on the tank rental model, keeping in line with mid-size terminal market conditions.

Currently, the terminal consists of 17 steel tanks that are all in operation, together with all the necessary piping and new pumping infrastructure to cater for product handling. Two jetties for loading from the port allow for vessels of up to 50,000 dwt to berth, with a maximum draft of 10.5 m, making DBTL a key transhipment hub by affording access to the Baltic Sea, Kiel Canal, and the greater European ports of ARA. Product is transferred via dedicated heated or unheated pipelines through three pumps that are capable of loading at 1,100 m³ per hour. Four truck loading bays offer automatic top and bottom loading and unloading, giving the terminal near-complete intermodal transport capability.

A key strength of DBTL management and terminal staff is their knowledge of and familiarity with product blending. Since its inception, DBTL has blended oil products for clients that require a team that can deliver such services. The team’s strength lies in their understanding of blending parameters, tank-to-tank or truck-to-tank transfers, blended product colour and clarity, product contamination control measures, lab testing requirements, blending licences and EU electronic transportation systems and document control management. 

In addition to oil products the terminal stores urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) fertiliser, molasses, biofuels and biofuel feedstocks (animal fat, UVO, FAME). DBTL is also licensed to store certain crude derivatives (petrochemicals).

TERMINAL ON TOP

Baltic Top LLC, the group’s smaller terminal, is strategically located in the heart of Kaliningrad, making it an ideal hub for the distribution of refined fuels and lubricants, including gasoline. Housed in the center of the city on a 2.2-acre (0.9-ha) site, the tank farm consists of seven vertical tanks and 30 horizontal tanks, offering the potential to store up to 12 different products simultaneously. Baltic Top has a total storage capacity of nearly 12,000 m³, of which the seven vertical tanks account for 10,000 m³. 

Staffed with 28 terminal operation professionals, the terminal can load 1,000 m³ of product per shift through its eight truck loading bays. In addition, rail loading infrastructure allows the loading of tank cars at up to 1,700 m3 per shift.

GTL owner Khofiz Shakhidi notes that he and the terminals’ staff have vast experience in the storage terminal business. He is always on the lookout for opportunities to expand the roster of satisfied clients as well as the network of terminals, both within Europe and in the rest of the world.

gtlterminals.com

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