Mott MacDonald, a renowned global engineering, management and development consultancy, has been awarded a major contract by UAE-based AquaChemie Middle East for its new chemical terminal at Jebel Ali, Dubai.

As per the deal, Mott MacDonald will be providing design, engineering and project management services for the strategic facility, which is scheduled to be commissioned by mid-2021.
 
A leading regional chemical distributor with an extensive supply chain network and manufacturing base across the GCC region, AquaChemie Middle East said the one-of-its-kind chemical terminal will be built at a cost of Dh150 million ($40 million).

It will serve as a strategic gateway to enable and facilitate vital petrochemical trade across the GCC region and beyond, said a statement from the UAE company.

The new chemical terminal will leverage its prime site location at Jebel Ali Port operated by DP World, including multiple jetty pipelines, along with other crucial existing utility and building support infrastructure.

The new facility will benefit the global petrochemicals market valued at Dh146.5 trillion ($539.3 billion) in general and the UAE in particular, it stated.

In its entirety, the new chemical terminal will comprise bulk storage tanks for liquid hydrocarbons(approximately 30,000 cu m total capacity) along with day tanks, chemical processing units, automated drumming lines, tanker loading-unloading gantry with top loading arms besides an office block with control room, dedicated road tankers and large trailer truck fleet, and a fully-equipped firefighting unit.

On the new facility, V Anandkumar, the co-founder and director of AquaChemie Middle East, said: "It will serve as a catalyst to boost petrochemical trade between manufacturers in the region and end-users anywhere in the globe."

"In addition to serving as a sales channel, the project will also allow regional petrochemical majors to market their various product lines in drums or intermediate bulk containers for distribution to the tertiary chemical industry," he stated in the presence of his colleague and co-founder and director Subrato Saha.

As one of the top technical consultants in the world, Mott MacDonald’s services are at a premium and AquaChemie Middle East selected them exclusively, to ensure that the mega project is safe, sustainable and efficient, he added.
 
Saha said AquaChemie Middle East will adhere to a 'fill locally and ship globally' modus operandi by sourcing by-product streams available in the region at attractive terms, collecting them in storage tanks and exporting in bulk, while also allowing cross sale via direct source and supply in bulk from high seas without touching the AquaChemie Middle East facility."

"The project will also facilitate the manufacture and distribution mode that will see certain products being processed or manufactured regionally and sold globally," he stated.
 
AquaChemie Middle East will employ around 100 people locally in two years’ time and will double its workforce by 2025, he added.-TradeArabia News Service