289
1 INTRODUCTION
The influence of the chemicals, mineral oils and
petrochemicalsindustryindailylifeandinindustry
iswellknown–chemicalandpetrochemicalproducts
go into the manufacture of soaps, pharmaceuticals,
plastics, tires and other objects vital to the onward
marchofcivilizationaswellasmineraloilsareboth
usedbypublicandindust
ry.
However,beforeconsumers canreapthe benefits
ofthese products, a greatdeal of logistical planning
goes into the ma nufacture, transport and processing
(NathandRamos,2011).
Todaytherearethreekindsofterminals;theones
having their own refineries, terminals that only rent
storage ta
nks for their customers only and the ones
which include the both. The logistics part of these
terminals deal with loading, unloading and also
transporting theseproducts via truck, train, pipeline
andshipsinwhichoperationactivitiesplaythemost
important role. To become a global and regional
terminal, toda
y’s ports should always be in
improvementprocess about operational efficiency of
their terminals in accordance with the regional and
internationalrulesandmanuals.
2 IMPORTANCEOFMEASURINGTERMINAL
EFFICIENCY
According to Thomas and Monie (2000), ports and
terminals must measure their performance, because
portefficiencyisanimportantrequirementinorderto
surviveinthecompet
itiveworldofshippingindustry
(Esmer, 2008). All ports are unique and measuring
and analyzing performance is not simple. Under‐
utilizationswillresultincapitallossandhighercost
for running the port. However, inadequate facilities
result in delays which in turn lead to capital and
customer loss (Tahar and Hussain, 2000). For these
Determinants of Operational Efficiency at Chemical
Cargo Terminals
T.A.Gülcan,S.Esmer,Y.Zorba&G.Şengönül
DokuzEylulUniversity,MaritimeFaculty,Izmir,Turkey
ABSTRACT: In today’s globalized world, one of the requirements of global supply chains is efficient
transportationsystems.Approximately80percentofworldmerchandisetradecarriedbyseaandhandledby
portsworldwide.Forthisreason,maritimetransporthasthestrategiceconomicimportance.Loadingofoiland
gashasthebiggestshare(%30)incommoditiescarriedbyseaand2.9billiontonsoilandgasloadedtoshipin
2013. This study is focus on chemical cargo termi
nals which is a special terminal form where high and
internationallevelsofsafetyandqualityelementsapplied.Unlikeconventionalbulkcargoandcontainercargo
operations,chemicalcargooperationsincludeownpriorities,applicat
ions,andtheevaluationcriteria.Theaim
ofthisstudyistoperformaqualitativeresearchtodeterminethefactorsaffectingtheoperationalefficiencyof
ship,berthandwarehousingoperationsinchemicalcargoterminals.
http://www.transnav.eu
the International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 8
Number 2
June 2014
DOI:10.12716/1001.08.02.15
290
reasons,thedeterminationof the technicalefficiency
ofterminals forhandlingcommodities in seaportsis
animportantissuetoportmanager(Notteboometal.
2000).Asavitallinkintheoverallsupplychain,ports
are an important transport infrastructure and,
consequently, port efficiency is an important
contributortoa
nationʹsinternationalcompetitiveness
(Tongzon,1989;ChinandTongzon,1998).
3 IMPORTANCEOFCHEMICALTERMINALS
Chemical tankers, chemical ports and pipe lines are
the main components of the world chemical
transportation. Large quantities of liquid chemicals
are transported by tanker ships (Arslan, 2009) and
chemicalcargoeshavedifferentproperties,and
many
ofthemrepresentahealthandsafetyhazard,whichis
acriticalissue forthetankerindustry(Karimiet al.,
2002).Alsopipelinesplayanotherimportantrolefor
the transfer of the raw materials and products
betweenrefineriesandterminals,especiallylocatedin
the same geographical area or where maritime
transportation is not cost/effective like Baku‐Tiflis‐
Ceyhan pipeline. And finally truck and railway
transportation modes are mostly used domestically
for shipping the products from the terminals to the
manufacturers.
As it is clear from the description, liquid raw
materialsandproductsaswellasliquidchemicalsare
commonly transported
by maritime transportation
mode because of its lowest cost per ton mile and
amount efficiency.All of these facilities require a
terminalwithitsberthorjettiesfortheshipsandalso
forthebarges,railwayforthetrains,locomotivesfor
the wagons, roads and stations for the trucks,
pipelines between
the terminals and/or refineries,
tank farms for the storage of the raw materials and
products, hoses or pipelines between the berth/jetty,
wagonandtruckloading/unloadingstations.
In today’s global economic conditions, there are
alsoworldwidestorageneedforchemicalmineraloil
andpetrochemicalindustryproducersandcustomers.
Chemical cargo ports
are facilities which meet that
needs. In the world, one of the most important
examplesofchemicalterminalsisPortofRotterdam.
Portof Rotterdamoffers more than 30 million cubic
meteroftank storagecapacityforalltypes ofliquid
bulk.Productshandledincludecrudeoil,mineraloil
productssuch
aspetrol,diesel,keroseneandnaphtha,
all kinds of bulk chemicals and edible oils and fats.
In Port of Rotterdam region there are now five oil
refineries,whichprocesstheimportedoil,andover45
chemicalcompanieswhichhave large‐scalefacilities.
Thereisalso1500kmofpipelinesinterconnecting
oil
and chemical companies
(http://www.portofrotterdam.com).
This paper is investigating the determinants of
operational efficiency at chemical cargo terminals.
As it is well known that during loading and
unloadingoftheliquidchemicals,operationalsafety
isthemostimportantfactor.Spillsandaccidentscan
be seen in many ways e.g. (Duffey and
Saull,185:2009); while filling, in
storage, during
transport, at process and transfer facilities; plus
failures of vessels and pipeline. Safe and efficient
operationalproceduresshouldincludedesign,control
and management with together considering all
relevantfactorsinchemicalterminals.Therefore“the
operational efficiency of the terminals” is a very
importantcomponentforhandlingchemicalscargo.
4 METHODOLOGY
Inthis work“In‐depth Interview”method was used
face to face with the authorized Operational
Manager/Staff of the companies as listed below.
Because of all manager and staff do not want to
disclosetheirnames,thetabledonotincludenameof
theparticipants.
Table1.In‐depthInterviewdetails
_______________________________________________
TerminalsStaffPositionsDate
_______________________________________________
OILTanking/Hamburg/Terminal Nov.2012
GermanyManager
VOPAK/Hamburg/Operations Nov.2012
GermanyManager
DOWInternational/DockNov.2012
Hamburg/GermanyOperations
Leader
SOLVENTAŞ/İzmit/ GeneralDec.2012
TurkeyManager
LIMAŞ/İzmit/Turkey TankTerminal Dec.2012
Manager
_______________________________________________
Theresearchquestionswereaboutthefollowing
topics:
Jettycapabilitiesofthecompanies,
The intermodal logistics capabilities of the
companies,
Loading and unloading automatic system/tools
theyuse,
The software systems they benefit during the
operationsandtheirtools.
The watch systems for the operational staff the
companies apply (number of personnel at
operation
stations, working hours, watch system
etc.),
Thetrainingsystems,
Theinspectionsoftheterminals,
TheRiskanalysesprocedures.
5 RESEARCHFINDINGS
5.1 Jettycapabilitiesofthecompanies;
Numbers of Jetties of the terminals are as listed
below.
Table2.Terminalspecifications
_______________________________________________
Vopak OilTanking Dow Solventaş Limaş
_______________________________________________
#ofJetties 9 5 3 2 2
Drafts(m) 3.5‐12 3.6‐12.8 7‐14 10‐25 11‐22
_______________________________________________
TheproductshandledinthejettiesofVOPAKand
OIL Tanking are mostly mineral oils and this is the
reason why these jetties are convenient for ships
between 2.000 and 200.000 dwt. VOPAK is also
291
handlingsulfuricacidaschemicals.Intheinsideparts
of the jetties of these two terminals, handling
operations are usually realized with the barges and
only hoses are used in handling operations. The
mineral oils can behandledup to 2000 cbm/hour in
OILTankingandalso1000cbm/hourin
VOPAKwith
loading arms according to the receiving capacity of
the ships and to the property of the products.
Although,pipelinesusedinmineraloilhandlingsare
generallyproducedforamaximumpressureof12‐13
bars,they’reusuallyusedunderpressuresofbetween
6‐7barsduetosafety
andmateriallifetime.
DOW is handling only chemical products in its
terminal with its jetties between 155 meter and 270
meter long. The loading arms on the jetties can be
remotecontrolledwhichpreventsthepossibledelays
causedbytheshipmaneuvers.
SOLVENTAŞ uses one of its jetties for chemical
liquids
and the other one for fuel and gas oil
handlingswhichare250and275meterlong.Thereis
real‐time fuel oil and gas oil blending capability on
the jetty as loaded to the barges for bunkering. On
chemicaljetty,42separateproductscanbehandledat
the same
time with 4 or 8 ships according to their
tonnages. LİMAŞ can handle 10 separate chemicals
simultaneously on its 165 meter long jetty with two
ships.
Asdescribed“ThePhysicalOceanographic”effect,
tidal level in the Elbe River reaches up to 5 meter
whichcausesdelaysinshipoperationsin
connection
withthedraftsoftheshipssometimes.
5.2 Intermodallogisticscapabilitiesofthecompanies;
TheEuropean railway network isdirectly connected
totheterminalsinHamburg and thereforeis avery
flexible instrument for transports leaving Hamburg
andarrivingattheterminalsfromthehinterland.All
three companies in
Hamburg have their own
locomotives and railway inside their terminals. The
yearly average number of wagons handled in OIL
Tanking is 20.000. Also this number in VOPAK is
daily between 100‐200 wagons. As a result, the
amount of handled liquid by railway is more than
seaborne transports in these two
companies 26% of
the products leave DOW / Hamburg terminal by
railway.
VOPAKandOILTankinghaspipelineconnection
betweentheirterminalsandalsowithotherrefineries
intheirregion. DOWinternationalhasa380km.long
Ethylene pipeline inside Germany to its other
refineries.
Tanker loading capabilities allow these
three
companiesseriousamountsofproducthandlingand
transporting them via trucks inside Germany and
Europe.OILTankinghandlesaverage65.000tankers
yearly and DOW / Hamburg forwards its 21% of
chemicalproductsbyroadtransportbytankers.
Thefirms locatedinİzmit/TURKEYuseseaborne
andtankertransportationmodesincommon.
Firstof
all LİMAŞ has pipeline connections with two
companiesproducingchemicalproductsinitsregion.
TheaverageTankerloadingnumberinSOLVENTAŞ
isdaily250andhas43loadingstationswhichallows
a yearlyhandling amount 1.400.000 tons in average.
The loading stations number in LİMAŞ is 16 with a
dailyaverage100tankersloadingcapacity.
5.3 TheAutomaticLoadingandUnloadingsystem/tools
thecompaniesuse;
Allthe terminalsuse automatichandling systems in
accordancewiththeircapacities.Inthiscase,VOPAK
and OIL Tanking can control all the handling cycle
with the help of the software by
which they realize
theplanningandhandlingthatincludesfromwhich
stationandlinenumbertheproductloadingisgoing
to be realized or which tank is going to be
unloaded/loaded, in the “Control Rooms” they use.
Thestaffworkinginthesecontrolroomscancontrol
the level of the
products in the Tanks and also the
physicalconditionsoftheproductsrealtimeaswell.
Handling operations with ships and wagons are
completedundertheauspicesofterminalstaff.
The three Hamburg located terminals use full
automatic loading systems for the tankers. This
loadingprocessisrealizedundertheterminal’s
safety
and security rules only by the tanker drivers who
passthetestsmadeattheentranceoftheterminaland
whoareexperiencedinautomaticloadingatleastfor
aspecifictimethatthecompanydefines.
If the driver makes some mistakes during the
loadingprocess,thenthesystem
doesn’tlethimtogo
on with loading and warns the staff in the control
roomforhelpingthedriverwiththecommunication
systemorpersonally.
SOLVENTAŞ is realizing all the handling
operations, including the ones that are completed
under nitrogen cover automatically with help of the
softwarethecompanycreated.
Thehandlingplanning
shouldbedonebyusingthisprogramanditdoesn’t
lettheplannertodothisoverthelinesorvalvesthat
malfunctionorunderconstructionwhichinhibitsthe
accident possibilities by the material. In loading
processoftankers,itstartsautomaticallybyentering
the number of
“Loading Conformity Paper” by the
staff to the system at the loading station which is
broughtbythetankerdriverandendsautomatically
whenthevolumeoftheproductreachestherequired
amountasitshouldbe.
5.4 TheSoftwaresystemstheterminalsbenefitduringthe
operations;
Theexaminedterminalsare
allusingvarioussoftware
accordingtotheircapacitiesduringtheiroperational
facilities, connected within the framework of
delegatedlimitationstotheotherdepartmentssuchas
technicalandcommercial.
Aftertheclientsorder,handleplanningisrealized
viatheseDecisionSupportSystemsoftwareincluding
thevariableslikeETAofthevehiclesorships,theline
numbers going to be used during handling, the
necessarytanklevelsatthebeginningandattheend
etc. Additionally by the Local Area Network,
operators can achieve ship’s information, essential
manuals, and procedures and check lists for the
operations which they’re assigned for with these
292
software’s. During the operations if operator does
something wrong than the program automatically
stops the handling process and informs the control
room or quality management departments of the
terminals.
Further the stated tools, some terminals like
SOLVENTAŞ enabletank leaseholders, owners of
theproductsandfreightforwarderstoachievewithin
competence of they are allowed to its software
databasetocheckouttherealtimeinformationabout
theirproducts,thebureaucraticworksstatusetc.This
softwaretoolcapabilityenablesthefreightforwarders
maketheirloadingandshippingplansbyenteringall
theinformationaboutthetankerandalsothedrivers
tothesystem.
After the freight forwarders’ handling planning
areloadedinthesystem,iftrafficorother
issuesdon’t
let the plan get realized at the terminal then the
relatedstaffinformtheforwardersaboutthesituation
andguidethem.
5.5 Theoperationalstaffworkingsystems;
In the Hamburg terminals, the handling process
continues 24 hours for ships, barges and wagons.
Tankeroperationsare24hoursonly
inOILTanking
terminal.InSOLVENTAŞandLİMAŞterminalsship
handling processes are also 24 hours. Tanker
operations in this two terminals are only daytime
available.
Although, all terminals have various watch
systems according to their personnel numbers, they
applydaily 8 hour working with 3 watches (LİMAŞ
has
2 watches). Some of them support the day time
watches with staff who works only at day times on
working days. Every watch except DOW has Watch
Leaders.ThewatchleadersatSOLVENTASshouldbe
shipengineersinprinciple.
The watch leaders assign their watch staff to the
stationsaccording
totheirskillsandexperienceafter
they analyze the Planning Department’s daily
operationalplans.Exceptoperationalproblems,OIL
Tankingdoesn’tassignanystafftothetankerloading
area.
According to the GERMAN rules, during the
handlingoperationsatjetties,onestaffshouldalways
be on duty on jetty. Additionally on jetties,
in all
terminals in HAMBURG there are always enough
numbersofstaffattrainloadingstationsandintank
farmarea.TheterminalsinHamburgandalsoIZMIT
principleabouttheirstaffaretheirhavingtheskillsto
work on every station inside the terminal. In DOW
andOILTanking
terminalsineverywatchtherearea
fewlocomotivedriverswhoaretrainedandlicensed
byDeutscheBahn.
5.6 ThetrainingsystemsfortheOperationalstaff;
Alloperationalstaff bothinGermanyandTurkeyare
welltrainedbyinternalandalsoexternaltrainers as
well.According to the international and national
rules, all of the staff should be trained in specific
issueslikeIMDGCode,ISPSCode,FireFightingand
First Aid. These trainings are generally given by
licensedinternaltrainerintheterminal.SOLVENTAS
andLİMAŞarealsotrainsit’sstaffabout“Emergency
ResponseAgainstMarinePollution”.
Additionally these
trainings, simulators are used
insometerminalsfortrainingtheoperatorsespecially
to build up their visual memories. OIL Tanking is
using a wagon simulator from an external training
companyto train itsstaff and is planning to do this
withashipsimulatornextyear.
5.7 Theinspectionsofthe
terminals;
Today’s global economic circumstances, safety and
securityrulesforcestheterminalstohavecertificates
whichare valid worldwide to subsistin the market.
All terminals in this work have the technical and
quality(ISO)certificatesaccordingtotheircapabilities
andareinspectedfrequentlytokeepthesestandards.
Today, intuitions
like CDI or SGS imposed
themselvesworldwideandtheterminalswhichwork
with their standards and have their certificates are
always one step forward to the others in the
competition.
Some companies like OIL Tanking creates an
inspectionteamwithitsemployeeswhoworkatthe
other terminals worldwide an inspects
it’s terminals
withthisteams.
5.8 Theriskanalyzeprocedurestominimizeaccidents
duringtheoperationsactivities;
Analyzingallrisks,accidentsandtakingprecautions
principleis implemented by all theterminalsin this
work. Although the analyzing methods are various,
the managers and watch leaders determines the
possible risks during
the operations and after
analyzingthemwithcoefficients,bringoutmeasures
tominimizethem.
6 CONCLUSION
Almost all terminals included in this work primary
subjectistoconvertthemanualhandlingsystemsto
full automatic systems by the time to prevent the
accidentpossibilitiescausedbyhumanmistakesand
tosave
upfromlaborforceandleeway.
Especially railway intermodal mode affects the
operational efficiency positively in terminals and
doesn’t require labor force like road mode.
InvestmentsonupperstructureinthiscasebyEastern
EuropeancountriesandTurkeyandintegrationwith
Western European countries would increase the
capacityseriously.
Determining
the specific criteria for the tanker
drivers to enable them to do loading operations in
automatic stations without terminal staff and
applying them widely would affect the operational
efficiencypositively.
Making use of simulators by training the
operational staff would give the personnel a visual
293
memory which would be helpful them during the
operationalactivities.
Allowing the customers to enter the terminals
software within the framework and to make their
own handle plan with the terminals planning
department can help the planning department in
makingoperationalplans.
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Interviews:
DOWInternational,Hamburg, Germany. DockOperations
Leader,November2012.
LİMAŞ,İzmit/Turkey, Tank Terminal Manager, December
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SOLVENTAŞ,İzmit/Turkey,General Manager, December
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VOPAK, Hamburg/Germany, Operations Manager,
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