Arabian Chemical Terminals - ACT
Background
Arabian Chemical Terminals Ltd. (ACT) was established in 1985 by the same shareholders as Chemtrade – three Saudi family owned companies, in collaboration for management with Mobil Saudi Arabia (now ExxonMobil). The management collaboration with Mobil Saudi Arabia ended in 2000, and today Reza Investment, the majority shareholder, manages the company.
ACT erected and commissioned the first ever commercial liquid chemical bulk storage terminal in Saudi Arabia. The facility was built in Yanbu on the western coast. The tanks are leased to Chemtrade and third parties and allows for the import and distribution of liquid chemicals to the market in bulk form. In July 2012, ACT commissioned its second and larger tank terminal in Jubail, on the Eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, the region’s petrochemical hub.
Also In 2012, ACT launched “Suttons Arabia”, a joint venture partnership with the UK-based Suttons Group, which specialises in world wide chemical logistics and transportation at the very highest standards of safety. ACT, Chemtrade and Suttons Arabia work closely together to provide customers with a full range of services for their chemical, storage and logistics requirements.
Products and services
The establishment of the liquid bulk chemical storage facility at Yanbu in 1987 gave small and medium sized industries in the region an efficient means of handling their liquid chemicals. Bulk logistics meant savings on the high costs of ISO Containers and drums as well as lower storage needs at their own plants.
Today the Yanbu terminal has 14 tanks of different sizes, totalling 13,000 cubic metres of storage capacity, sufficient for 100,000 metric tons of throughput annually. It also has a testing laboratory and drumming facility. The facility is expandable to accommodate further storage tanks in the future.
The company’s new terminal at Jubail recently commissioned its first phase in July 2012. Designed for both imports and exports, the first phase offers 16 tanks with capacities ranging from 2,000 to 2,500 cubic metres each. Highly automated, it also features state-of-the-art berthing facilities and safety equipment. The next stage will include a further 12 tanks in the same size range as well as a drumming unit.
Both terminals have achieved ISO:9000 certification, and conform to the latest international health and safety and environmental standards.
Why ACT?
ACT pioneered the efficient handling of bulk liquid chemicals in the region, and has over 25 years’ experience in this field. Together with its sister company Chemtrade, it remains the only chemical distributor in Saudi Arabia with a liquid chemical bulk logistics capability. The addition of the Jubail terminal, the first of its kind in the Eastern Province, confirms ACT’s dedication to fulfilling the growing needs of the ever expanding industrial base in the region.
Customers enjoy not just the highest levels of service, safety and flexibility, but real cost-effectiveness; by reducing inventory stock at their sites, they can increase investments in other operations. At the same time, bulk storage is more sustainable and secure than using drums, which means that ACT’s terminals are helping the region as a whole to reduce its environmental footprint.