Waste oil reception plant, a first in the region :

Hambantota tank farm, bunkering terminal opens next Sunday

By Shirajiv Sirimane

The new Tank Farm Complex and Bunkering Terminal at Magam Ruhunupura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port (MRMRP) will be ceremonially inaugurated and bestowed upon the Nation by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on June 22 at the port premises, bringing additional revenue.

Port Administration building

The tank farm project will provide bunkering services for the ships and domestic requirements for LPG and Aviation Oil for both ships passing Hambantota and aircrafts that land at Mattala airport.

MRMRP despite decreasing criticism has received 91 vessel calls for the period from January to May this year against 35 calls for the same period last year indicating a positive change of 160.0 percent.

The cargo handled at the port for the same period this year is 102,558 tonnes against 21,542 tonnes for the same period last year that indicates a positive change of 376.1 percent.

MRMRP also received 87 RO-RO vessels from January to May this year against 35 such vessels for the same period last year pointing to a positive change of 148.6 percent. The total number of motor vessels handled for the same period this year at MRMRP is 72,612 units against 13,186 units for the same period last year pointing to a positive change of 450.7 percent. During the period this year MRMRP has handled 14,019 domestic and 58,593 transshipment units in RO-RO operations.

Following the footsteps of Mahinda Chinthana of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka Ports Authority has been streamlined at present to maximise all the strengths and capacities to efficiently work towards the socio-economic development of Sri Lanka. Through the accurate guidance by Mahinda Rajapaksa, MRMRP at present is rapidly becoming the potential to bring prosperity not only to the country but also to the whole region.

Bunkering facility

The Bunkering facility and Tank Farm Project is located in Hambantota, south Sri Lanka, about 200 km away from Colombo. The tank farm storage capacity is totally 80,000 m3 for marine fuel oil, aviation fuel oil and LPG. This project is composed of five upright tanks with dome in 10,000m3, three upright tanks with dome in 5,000m3, three upright tanks with dome in 3,000m3, three spherical LPG tanks in 2,000m3 and all necessary auxiliary facilities.

The bunkering facility is made of eight tanks and are divided into two groups with three 10,000 m3 tanks are in one dike and another three 5,000 m3 tanks and two 3,000 m3 tanks in one dike.

IFO380cst will be stored at a temperature of 60oC at atmospheric pressure andIFO180 will be stored at a temperature of 45~60oCin atmospheric pressure and MGO at ambient temperature in atmospheric pressure.

The Marine Jetty facility/waterfront facility here, for ship berthing consists of two berths of 300m each in length with a draft of 15m. Each jetty is equipped with eight loading/unloading arms with segregation for Heavy fuel, Gas Oil, Aviation fuel and LPG.

The jetty is fitted with high quality fenders, quick release hooks for ships lines, radar display of ship movements for safe berthing to the pilot and ship staff.

For bunkering operations, there are separate loading and unloading pipelines to ensure uninterrupted services for both the bunkering vessels and import/export vessels in continuing its normal operations.

All the pipelines within the tank farm area and the connections to the jetty area which are used for heavy fuel oil are fitted with heating coils to ensure maximum flow rate can be maintained whilst having to avoid cleaning/flushing of lines.

The terminal is equipped with a fully automated blending facility to blend various products which enhances the scope of the facility and cater to the various requirements including in-house as well as bunker supplies thus increasing the efficiency of the plant.

The bunkering facility is fitted with flow meters to ensure accuracy of the measurements which is also the first terminal in the region to be fitted with high precision and costly equipment.

The terminal has inshore truck loading facilities to transport and distribute products in land. It is equipped with Experion Terminal Automation System (ETAS) which is a web-based client-server software application that helps to automate the operations within a terminal. Experion TAS uses Experion PKS(EPKS) as its backbone for most of its process control operation like pump sequencing, notifying field level loading alarms, graphics, TGS for Tank levels, ESD for safety interlocks, DCS information exchange which is backed by world renowned Honeywell. This systems ensures safety and accuracy of the measurement of products with zero tolerance for pilferage and enhances the security of the facility with only authorised persons allowed entry.

The facility is also equipped with a modern laboratory with fully qualified and experienced Chemists and Analysts to test all products that will be stored at the tank farm. It will be the first laboratory outside Colombo to have the facility to test petroleum products which will ensure reliability of the products at Hambantota.

An additional unique feature will be that the Hambantota port will be one of the very few ports in the region with a modern state of the art reception facility for slops/waste oil from vessels.

The waste oil reception plant has a storage capacity of 500cum and will enable the vessels passing Sri Lanka to discharge their oily waste whilst complying with MARPOL regulations and ensuring clean and green environment.

The oily water system is also built to collect and treat the oily water coming from tank farm, pump house, gantry and other area in this project. The quality of treated water will meet the stringent requirements as per local regulations. The plant has a designed capacity of 250 m3/day for treating and separation of oily water and will ensure that the free oil content in the effluent water is safely discharged whilst the separated waste oil will feed the cottage industries and traded to the industrial boilers, space heaters, asphalt plants, cement and lime kilns and blast furnaces.

The entire tank farm is well protected by an experienced team of fire fighters and a Fire Fighting System which includes a separate fire station, fire trucks, foam storage and separate jetty fire fighting system.

To ensure uninterrupted power supply for the tank farm and its operations, the primary source is the Power Supply System from the main grid of Ceylon Electricity Board with a 33kV overhead line. In addition one 1200kW primary type diesel generator is installed to maintain tank farm normal operations with proper load shedding when CEB power cannot satisfy electricity requirement of tank farm.

Meanwhile, another 280kW diesel generation is installed to maintain tank farm lighting and emergency load at night. The entire tank farm is fully automated with reputed Instrumentation and Control Systems for accuracy and efficiency.

The monitors will display and storage of real time tank gauging information via radar level gauging at the main control room in the tank farm and the jetty area and will have presentation of tank inventory information in graphical and tabulate formats and production of inventory reports based on the data contained in the real time database, production of software configured alarm conditions with audio visual annunciation, self-diagnostic capability of the associated hardware and display of error messages and etc.

To date all developmental activities at MRMRP are being successfully carried out with the supervision of Project Minister of Highways, Ports and Shipping Rohitha Abeygunawardena and instructions by SLPA Chairman Dr. Priyath B. Wickrama.