Euroports major Investment ready for new sugar season

(Posted on 11/09/18)

Euroports and Antwerp Port representatives, along with their clients, have officially inaugurated the newest investments Euroports has made to their dedicated Sugar Terminal, Terminal TA 518 in Antwerp. During the inauguration ceremony, Bart De Wever (Mayor of the City of Antwerp), Marc Van Peel (Chairman of the Port and Vice-mayor of the City of Antwerp), Charles Menkhorst (CEO Euroports) and Geert Gekiere (Managing Director Euroports Belgium NV), delivered speeches to celebrate this new milestone.

Euroports’ Terminal TA 518 is the largest dedicated independent sugar terminal operation in Europe, having a storage capacity of more than 260,000t over the 9.0 hectare site. This represents a significant material contribution to the sugar exports handled at the Port of Antwerp. With more than half of the 2.5m tons of European export volumes currently routed through it, the Port of Antwerp is the market leading sugar export hub for Europe.

To support the clients’ export growth and their integrated supply chain solutions, Euroports invested about € 27m in quality enhancements, capacity expansion and technology, increasing operational flexibility and productivity during the pasts 2 years.

The Sugar Terminal is fully IFS certified and offers closed sugar circuits as well as an expansive sieving footprint. The new unloading rail station and additional unloading pitches for trucks allow for maximum flexibility while simultaneously handling inbound flows. Two additional container bag loaders and new bagging lines provide a high level of flexibility in handling outbound flows, enabling differentiation between container and non-containerised flows.

The sugar terminal of Euroports is equipped with leading-edge technology and processes, and meets all quality requirements for multi-modal transport. The terminal’s infrastructure accommodates any vessel type up to Panamax-sized vessels. Along with its in-house forwarding company, Manuport Logistics, Euroports delivers end-to-end maritime supply chains, tailored to the specific needs of its sugar clients.

With the next sugar campaign starting soon, Euroports is now even more than before ready and prepared to successfully manage sugar volumes that will come through this state of the art sugar terminal.