The Ground Breaking Ceremony of Vopak Terminal Zhangjiagang has been celebrated on 7 June at the new-to-be-built Vopak Terminal Zhangjiagang site. The ceremony with in total 250 guests was attended by many potential customers and government officials. The Guests of Honour: Mr Wang Rong, Party Secretary of Suzhou, Mr. Jan Peter Wever, Consul General of the Netherlands and Mr. John Paul Broeders Chairman of Vopak's Executive Board, performed a Ground Breaking Ceremony to officially celebrate the start of construction.  

 

 

Background on Zhangjiagang Terminal

Vopak Terminal Zhangjiagang is the sixth Vopak terminal in China and the first wholly owned by Royal Vopak.

Location

Zhangjiagang is located on the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, about 150 km northwest from Shanghai. The Yangtze River Delta is considered the most important economical motor of China. A vast number of industries are producing and selling their products in this industrious region. Zhangjiagang is ideally positioned as a gateway for the Yangzte River Delta and even for the whole of East China. Within a three hours’ drive, more than 25% of China’s GDP can be reached. Important cities like Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Jiangyin, Wuxi are all within easy reach.

Key strengths

The Chemical Industrial Park in Zhangjiagang offers excellent industrial terminal opportunities, while the location is also suitable to develop distribution services for both chemical and oil products.

After the dredging activities at the Yangtze River mouth near Shanghai are completed (Q4 2007), 50,000 dwt vessels are able to sail on the Yangtze fully laden to Zhangjiagang. Another advantage is that the water depth with 15 meters is only about 50 meters from the shore line. Vopak Terminal Zhangjiagang is assured of sufficient jetty capacity, something that is unique for tank terminal operations in the proximity of Zhangjiagang. The jetty is designed to cater for ships up to 50,000 dwt. There will be four berthing positions for ships ranging from 800 dwt to 50,000 dwt.

Project

Vopak Terminal Zhangjiagang will be developed in three phases, whereby the first phase comprises of four sub-phases. Currently Vopak is working on Phase 1a which will be operational in May 2007. It will consist of up to 27 tanks with tank sizes ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 cbm, both in mild and stainless steel. Possibly some larger tanks will also be constructed, depending on customer demand.
The remaining sub-phases will be developed in 2007 and 2008 for industrial customers and will grow the terminal to 250,000 cbm.