The final stage of construction of the ORLEN Group Marine Transshipment Terminal in Gdańsk

Installation of eight automated loading arms (weighing approximately 18 tons each), which will be used to transship raw materials and products between ships and systems of the refinery in Gdańsk – this is the key stage of the ORLEN Group’s investment project – the construction of the Marine Transshipment Terminal on Martwa Wisła. The progress of this project is already at over 75 percent.

In the second half of July 2024, all loading arms were installed on the transshipment piers of the 380-meter long quay, which in the future will service sea vessels up to 130 meters long, with draft of up to approx. 5.8 meters and a width of up to 17.6 meters. Two modern transshipment stations for servicing tankers are being built, and each of them is equipped with four bidirectional loading arms.

The Maritime Transshipment Terminal of Petroleum Products on the Martwa Wisła River, whose construction will cost nearly PLN 0.5 billion, is intended to improve the profitability and security of supplies of biocomponents for the production of fuels and the transport of products produced at the Gdańsk refinery. Its target capacity may amount to up to 2 million tons of products per year.

– The terminal will handle, among others: two key product streams: acceptance of biocomponents for the production of biofuels, which are currently delivered to the refinery in Gdańsk by rail, and transport to ships of advanced 2nd generation base oils, which will be produced in the newly built HBO (Hydrocracking Oil Block) unit. It will also be used to transship low-sulfur MGO (Marine Gas Oil) marine fuels intended for main engines and auxiliary equipment of vessels, as well as refinery-originating semi-finished products. Access to the sea will increase our purchasing and commercial efficiency – explains Łukasz Wojtaszek, director of the ORLEN Logistics Development Office.

The marine terminal will also relieve the burden on the railway siding operating at the plant, where products are currently transported between the refinery and external transshipment points. Currently, products from Gdańsk are sent via external ports in Gdańsk and Gdynia.

The implementation of the investment project will improve the profitability and security of supplies of biocomponents for the production of fuels (biogasoline and biodiesel) – such as: FAME, i.e. bioesters (fatty acid methyl esters), obtained from vegetable oils and used as a component of diesel oil; UCOME, i.e. second-generation biofuels generated from waste, e.g. used cooking oil and MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether), an organic component of gasoline that increases its octane number.

Road and process works are currently being carried out at the construction site, as well as the installation of pipelines and overpasses that will connect the terminal with the refinery. Finishing works are underway in the technical facilities building, which will house the quay command centre and auxiliary infrastructure. Among other works, installation of switchboards, transformers and control cabinets for electrical, telecommunications and automation systems is underway.

– We have not only installed the loading arms, but also completed major hydrotechnical works. One of the more difficult tasks was to sink twelve huge tubular dolphins with a diameter of 1,800 mm, each weighing 32 tons and nearly 30 m long, into the mooring line of the quay. We have also completed the concrete surface on the quay, cleaned the Martwa Wisła basin, installed hydrotechnical equipment and laid the foundation for the concrete surface in the eastern part of the quay. We are currently building embankments for the exits to the terminal. We also install process pipelines and loading bridges – says Maciej Klecha, construction manager from the NDI Group.

What still remains to be completed is the installation of masts with fire monitors on the quay and fire-fighting equipment in the technical facilities building, as well as finishing works in the technical facilities building. The next stage will consist of commissioning of the control systems of the entire quay. The general contractor of this project is a consortium composed of the Sopot-based NDI Group, which is the leader, as well as Biproraf, BPBM “PROJMORS” and Dipl. Ing. SCHERZER GmbH. Construction is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2025.