A year after Infracapital took on the former Vopak site, Tank Storage Magazine speaks exclusively to Peter van ‘t Hoff and Sebastian Margry from Liquin about the Botlek terminal, and what visitors to StocExpo can expect to see on the tour.
Based in the Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands, Liquin Terminal Botlek has a rich history as a storage terminal. The facility was founded in 1954 by Nieuwe Matex, which later changed its name to Van Ommeren Tank Terminal, and subsequently became Vopak Terminal Botlek In 1999, after the merger with Pakhoed.
On 1 December 2023, the name changed again after Vopak divested the terminal, and Liquin was born. Overall, Liquin is made up of three terminals in the Port of Rotterdam, all now owned by Infracapital, a London-based investment company. ‘From an organisational perspective, after the divestment of Vopak, becoming an independent tank storage company with a fresh and new identity has been a huge change and challenge for Liquin,’ says Peter van ‘t Hoff, senior sales manager at Liquin.
‘But cutting the Vopak umbilica cord, as it were, has enabled us to be a more agile business unit — and we hope our customers see this reflected in the way we work together.’
The name Liquin comes from liquid and industry. ‘When it came to rebranding, the marketing approach was actually really fun,’ says Sebastian Margry, sales officer at Liquin. ‘We asked for employee input and together with an external party we collectively came up with a name and logo that best represents us.’ The three circles in the Liquin logo represent the three key Rotterdam terminals — Botlek, Chemiehaven and TTR.
‘Botlek is our bulk terminal, with the main activity being storage of bulk products like methanol, styrene, (bio) ethanal and other biofuels,’ continues Margry. ‘Products come in by vessel and mostly go out by barge — though we do also have rail and road infrastructure here, too.’ In contrast, Chemiehaven is the industrial terminal, with mostly pipeline connections to surrounding facilities and customers. Its strategic location enables this much more easily. Finally, TTR is touted the distribution terminal, focusing mainly on specialty chemicals. ‘Everything that comes in to that terminal tends to leave by truck or rail,’ says Margry.
And so it’s no surprise that Liquin’s Botlek terminal was the chosen facility for StocExpo’s tour for 2025. Van ‘t Hoff explains: ‘It’s the biggest facility, so here’s more to see.’ With over 880,000 m3, nearly 180 tanks across 20 tank pits and 15 jetties, attendees to StocExpo that are lucky enough to have a slot on the terminal tour will be treated to Liquin’s state-of-the-art tank constructions, and various jetties. ‘There’s always something happening, and hopefully, we’ll see some large vessels on the day to give visitors a real sense of the scale of our tanks and ships,’ says van ‘t Hoff.
Liquin’s main focus for the future is to ensure the terminal’s infrastructure is still fit for purpose and up to the highest standards. With 180 tanks holding 882,683 m3 of liquid product, it’s a challenging job. ‘Over the last 20 years, our biofuel portfolio has grown immensely,’ says van ‘t Hoff. ‘Botlek stores a lot of biofuels, like ethanol, biodiesel, SAF and HVO. as well as chemicals such as methanol, styrene, plasticisers and aromatics.’ In order to best handle these products, Liquin Terminal Botlek started clustering products together in dedicated tankpits. This also helps minimise the risk of contamination, and prevents unnecessary cleaning of lines and pumps.
Van ‘t Hoff highlights a 2021 tank building project as a key point in the terminal’s growth. ‘The project at tank pit 12 involved the commissioning of 15 stainless steel and insulated tanks, storing 64,395 m3 of styrene,’ he says. ‘This has positioned us as the styrene hub of Rotterdam.’ And this kind of innovation is exactly what sets this terminal apart in the busy Rotterdam hub.
‘This state-of-the-art stainless steel styrene tank pit significantly reduces the risk of polymerisation,’ explains van ‘t Hoff. ‘Older mild steel tanks are fine, but the new stainless Steel insulated tanks at tank pit 12 keep the product cool, so the chance of polymerisation is reduced to virtually zero.’
‘Of course, the tanks are also built to the latest safety and environmental regulations and rules, so it’s really a completely different kind of tank pit than we had 20-60 years ago,’ adds Margry.
Even down to the solid concrete foundations; the tanks are taller because he groundwork can support heavier assets, which means the terminal can store larger volumes of product in a smaller area. ‘We’ve kept those older tanks up to date over the years,’ says Margry. But there’s a big difference in even just the technology you can attach to the new tank vs the older ones — you’ll see it if you join us on the tour.’
An additional challenge that Liquin has is that the three terminals were all previously owned by different companies — so the tanks and surrounding infrastructure were built and maintained to a specific (but sometimes different) standard. ‘However, we’ve modified the terminals to bring harmony and synergies, but as each one has its own specialty and quirks, it’s actually an opportunity for the different terminals to learn from each other and adopt new ways of working,’ explains van ‘t Hoff.
‘We are continuously looking for organic growth, higher throughput and to improve our service by upgrading our infrastructure,’ says van ‘t Hoff. ‘Safety, sustainability and DEI are a big focus for us, as we want to improve our own ways of working in order to be the preferred solution provider within our customers’ supply chain, and as such being the ‘partner of choice’. A big part of this is ensuring the terminal is ready to handle new energies, such as biofuels and recycled chemicals. Furthermore, Liquin Terminal Botlek has room to expand — by building new tank pits on top already-decommissioned assets. ‘We still have landbanks open so we have the opportunity to expand our storage and distribution capacity, and we are working hard to develop new opportunities,’ says ‘t Hoff.
One element of this type of investment is into digital tools that can increase efficiency and safety on site. Liquin is transitioning to a new, state-of-the-art, terminal management system (TMS), covering all steps from contract through order execution and invoicing. ‘The new TMS will bring significant enhancement to our operations having also many benefits for our customers, including real-time visibility into product status and daily activities, enhanced accuracy and safety supporting a ‘first-time-right’ approach,’ says Margry.
On the other side of the coin, Liquin is keen to make its own facilities as sustainable as possible, installing new regenerative thermal oxidiser (RTO) to burn away potentially harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and incorporating more internal floating roofs to keep emissions as low as possible. ‘We’re really investing now so that we can be prepared for the greener future,’ says Margry. Having already reached its 2030 target of reducing CO2 emissions by 42%, Liquin is even more motivated to find new possibilities to contribute to a more sustainable future. Margry highlights 2022 as a key moment in Liquin’s sustainability journey:
‘We introduced our so-called ‘Energy Control Room’, where we continuously explore new ways to optimise and reduce energy use and drive sustainability. And it’s clearly making a difference.’
Subject to availability, attendees to StocExpo will be able to visit Liquin Terminal Botlek on 10 March 2025 in Rotterdam.
