Pernis News

A power outage in the Rotterdam port area in the Netherlands briefly interrupted operations at one of Europe's biggest oil refineries on Tuesday, the plant's operator BP said.Electricity grid operator TenneT said the problem was solved shortly after 1000 GMT.

Dozens of Greenpeace activists in Rotterdam port used a ship, buoys and a small flotilla of kayaks on Monday to block traffic around Shell’s Pernis refinery, Europe’s largest, as part of a campaign seeking a ban on fossil fuel advertising.Police ended the blockade after several hours and the port’s authority said economic disruption to the wider harbor was minimal.The action comes as Greenpeace and more than 20 other environmental groups began seeking a million signatures for a European Union-wide ban on adverts and sponsorships by oil and gas companies…

Royal Caribbean's Silversea Cruises says it is preparing to take delivery of its newest ship, Silver Origin, following a unique set of COVID-19-related challenges overcome by the shipbuilder and innovative sea trials that included world-first remote operations.The new 100-passenger ultra-luxury cruise ship was built by Dutch shipyard De Hoop, which completed construction despite setbacks brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.Silver Origin was still under construction on March 15…

Two floating docks have completed their 26-day voyage across the North Atlantic to Damen Shiprepair Curaçao (DSCu) in the southern Caribbean.The larger of the two is a Panamax-class dock measuring 230 meters by 45 meters for tankers, containerships and other large vessels, while the smaller dock measures 108 meters by 23 meters for all kinds of tugs, workboats and offshore support and anchor handling vessels.The two docks were delivered by the heavy-lift carrier Xin Guang Hua to the Port of Willemstad, Curaçao on April 26, following a trip with more than its share of bad weather.

Contargo AG has launched a new rail shuttle service to the German town of Weil am Rhein on the Swiss border. This creates a direct connection between the port of Rotterdam and the important industrial areas around Basel. Three times a week, the container train travels from the DUSS Terminal in Weil am Rhein (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) to Rotterdam and vice versa (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) in a mere 18 hours. In Rotterdam the shuttle will stop at the CTT Pernis Terminal. This terminal has an efficient connection with the container terminals at Maasvlakte via the PortShuttle service. The ‘Basel Westport Shuttle’ has a capacity of 88 TEU and carries both maritime and continental freight. The train is also used for tank cars and bulk cargo.

At least 10 tankers booked from Mideast to Europe; freight rate for clean tankers up 11 percent from Monday. Oil traders are rushing to secure vessels to ship refined fuel from the Middle East to Europe after a Dutch refinery outage made the route profitable, pushing freight rates to multi-month highs, traders and shipbrokers said on Thursday. At least 10 long-range tankers able to carry 55,000 to 75,000 tonnes of jet fuel and diesel have been provisionally booked to head to Europe, with at least four of them taken by Royal Dutch Shell, two shipbrokers said. In contrast, there was not much activity on this route early in July, when traders were exploring shipping middle distillate cargoes on a reverse arbitrage from Europe to Asia.

Rise in enquiries on booking long-range vessels; shipping rates likely to go up. Traders in Asia are considering shipping diesel and jet fuel to Europe after a fire at that region's largest oil refinery disrupted supplies and boosted fuel margins, five traders and shipbrokers said on Tuesday. Two shipbrokers said they had seen a rise in enquiries on booking long-range vessels to ship the fuels to Europe after Royal Dutch Shell shut most of the units at its 404,000 barrels per day Pernis refinery in Rotterdam following a fire in the power supply system on July 29. Although they added that no booking had been reported yet. Shipping rates have already been affected…

Koole Terminals has begun operations at the storage facility for petrol and diesel in Pernis that it recently acquired from BP. The companies have a long-standing relationship. The newly acquired terminal is adjacent to the existing Koole terminal. The acquired terminal has a capacity of 200,000 cubic metres. It has its own jetty for sea-going vessels and a loading station for tankers. The terminal is connected to the BP refinery in Europort by pipeline. BP is leasing back part of the storage facility it sold to Koole, as well as the truck loading station, on the basis of a long-term contract. Koole Terminals has terminals in Zaandam, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and in the United Kingdom and Poland, with a total capacity of two million cubic metres.

Big slate of refinery maintenance in U.S., Canada; export rush bucks long-term trend. A late-year rush for gasoline in the United States is creating unexpected demand for imported cargoes and giving struggling European refineries a welcome autumn boost. An extensive slate of refinery maintenance on the U.S. Gulf Coast and in Canada has sapped gasoline availability, leading to a 70-percent increase in cargoes sailing west from Europe this month over levels in August - usually the time of peak demand. "What we're seeing now is not normal," one trader said. "The strength in the United States is dramatic. Traders said the U.S. shortage could get worse as demand in West Africa and the Middle East is also now attracting European cargoes. The pull bucks a trend of lower U.S.

Rolls-Royce opened its newly expanded and modernised Marine Service Centre in the Port of Rotterdam. The investment marks the latest stage in the development of a global Marine Service Centre network, which currently comprises dedicated repair activities in 34 countries, providing 24/7 support to customers worldwide. Rolls-Royce is making significant investments in global infrastructure and capability to deliver complex, integrated power systems and services for its marine customers.

Trudy Schoolenberg, PhD (Tech), has been appointed Vice President, Global R&D in Wärtsilä Industrial Operations as of August 15, 2010. Schoolenberg will be responsible for global Research and Development of the Wärtsilä products. Schoolenberg has a successful career in Shell in several leading positions with strategic, operational and technology experience since 1989. Most recently she held the position of General Manager, Strategy for Shell Chemicals in London, leading overall strategy and portfolio development.

According to the annual report of the Dutch organization of rail operators container transport by rail was constant in 2001. Within the Netherlands it declined with 2 percent to 225,000 TEU. On the one hand the bankruptcy of operator Deltalogic played a role, on the other hand the start of the Shortline shuttle Rotterdam-Eindhoven had a positive effect. International transport was practically constant: 560,000 TEU. Volume especially rose on the destinations far away such as Italy. This compensated the decline of maritime containers. On the short distances, for example Rotterdam-Antwerp, rail experiences fierce competition from inland shipping. Koole Tankstorage Pernis is going to expand its terminal for storage and distribution of edible oils and fats.

On October 22, 2007 AVR Van Gansewinkel - Bedrijven, Pernis (Holding) and Odfjell Terminals (Rotterdam) B.V. (OTR), signed a contract for the sale of AVR - Maritiem, Botlek-Rt. to Odfjell. The ownership of AVR - Maritiem will be transferred to Odfjell per January 1, 2008. The new name of the company will be Odfjell Terminals Maritiem B.V. (OTM) as from same date. The parties have agreed that the sales price will be kept confidential. Located next to OTR, one of the largest tankstorage facilities in Europe, OTM will continue to operate as a separate Business Unit within the Odfjell Group and also continue operating the Harbour Receiving Unit (HOI). The close proximity will give OTR the possibility to use and operate the extra berths.

In 2005, 369 million tonnes of cargo passed through the port of Rotterdam, almost 5% more than in 2004 and a new record. The volume of cargo leaving the port grew faster than that of cargo coming in, with 9% and 3% respectively, with general cargo enjoying 7% growth – almost twice the growth of bulk cargo. Ores and scrap metals (-5%), crude oil (-1%) roll on /roll off (-9%) and other general cargo (-3%) arrived and left in smaller volumes. However, handling of agri-bulk (+1%), coal (+7%), other dry bulk (+4%), other wet bulk (+4%), mineral oil products (+27%) and containers (+10%) showed very positive figures. In numbers, container movements increased by more than 12% to 9.3 million TEU (container units of 20 feet).