South Africas largest independent operator of bulk liquid storage recently disclosed it is developing plans to install new tanks. The announcement by Island View Storage is tantalizing news for a base oil market short on storage space.
Still, an IVS official cautioned that the project would fall short of alleviating a bottleneck on base oil imports.
From the interest shown in importing [API] Group II and III products into South Africa, this additional capacity will satisfy only a few customers, Marketing Manager Dawn Benyi said following a Nov. 7 presentation at the ICIS African Base Oils and Lubricant Conference in Durban, South Africa.
IVS, part of South Africa-based Bidvest Group Ltd., currently owns and manages a total of 725,000 cubic meters of liquid storage space, accounting for 77 percent of the independently controlled bulk tankage in the country. IVS has 430,000 m3 at Durban, 260,000 m3 at the port of Richards Bay and 35,000 m3 at the inland port of Isando at Johannesburg.
South Africa has a total of 941,000 m3 of independently managed bulk liquid space, not counting tankage controlled by the countrys refiners. Other independent operators include Vopak, IOT and Grindrod.
Benyi said IVS is considering two options for adding tankage at Durban. One would involve adding 20,500 m3 of tanks at the site of a quarry. The other calls for demolishing offices that could be replaced by tanks with capacity of 41,000 m3. Benyi did not offer a timeline for the projects.
We have two expansions on the cards that a lot of our customers are going to be happy about, she said.
Either option would install tanks designed to accommodate liquids with flash points of 92 degrees C and above, meaning that they could accommodate base oils and vegetable oils. Petroleum products, including base oils, finished lubricants, lube additives and diesel, account for approximately 20 percent of the liquids handled annually by IVS at Durban. Vegetable oils account for 44 percent, and chemicals the remaining 36 percent.
There is widespread agreement in South Africas lubricant industry that the country has a shortage of storage space for base oils. Most attribute the shortage to the national government owning all land on which tanks stand.