Vopak Terminals Singapore marks engineering feat with SEA’s biggest tank lift . On April 1, Vopak Terminals Singapore marked an engineering feat with Southeast Asia’s biggest tank lift and achieved a new milestone on current Sebarok tank expansion project in Singapore, in which it will be adding four new tanks with 67,000 cbm of storage to meet the marine gasoil capacity ahead of IMO 2020.
Working with the main contractor; Hiap Seng Engineering, Vopak has adopted an innovative approach to tank construction by fabricating tanks off-site, minimising activities in an operating terminal, improving safety & productivity, plus shortening project schedule by 2 months.
“This method of construction was chosen due to the project schedule as well as reduced risk of hot work inside a live terminal,” Soroush Maleki, Technical Manager, Vopak Terminals Singapore, told Storage Terminals Magazine. “The decision was made to fabricate the tanks off-site as much as possible and limit the site activities to a minimum. The off-site fabrication benefited from high productivity rate as well as controlled fabrication environment for improved safety.”
He explained that tank foundation and tank fabrication could be done in parallel, as compared to a conventional construction method, the foundation needed to be completed before tank fabrication could commence.
This method allowed Vopak to shorten the project schedule by two months, safely.
“In addition, due to the brownfield nature of the project and construction inside live tank pits, the off-site fabrication reduced the construction risks substantially and also reduced the potential work delays which both at the end benefited the project safety and schedule,” noted Maleki.
The expansion to be commissioned by end 2019 aims to cater for handling of marine gasoil, strengthening Singapore’s position as the bunker hub of choice with the flexibility of handling multiple fuels.
For more information visit www.vopak.com
