To inform our customers about Vopak’s SHEQ and sustainability-related activities on a regular basis, we distribute an updated SHEQ PACK. With this information packet, we aim to share knowledge from our own experience, and communicate lessons learned among industry leaders. In addition, the SHEQ PACK keeps our customers up-to-date on practical improvements being made in all our Safety, Health, Environment and Quality programs. The overall objective of the SHEQ PACK is to invite customers to participate in an open dialogue with us, so we can take every opportunity to learn from one another.

In the 2011 issue of the SHEQ PACK, featured programs include: Terminal Health Assessment (THA) reporting, Global SHE Day and Safety Observation Rounds.

Currently, Vopak is integrating a comprehensive Sustainability strategy into its overall Safety, Health, Environment and Quality program. This latest edition of the Global Vopak SHEQ PACK addresses this strategy with greater depth in the Sustainability area. A sustainable business is a profitable business where accidents do not occur and where the burden on the environment is minimized. We firmly believe that applying the principles of sustainable business practices leads to high-quality services and lower costs.

We also highlight a number of operating standards which have been developed under the name “The Vopak Way.” These global standards are at the heart of Vopak’s strategy and have been developed in close consultation with local technical and safety managers. The latest SHEQ PACK provides insight into three specific Vopak Way standards: Fundamentals of Safety, SHE Improvement Planning and Terminal Security Access.

For more information on the latest version of the SHEQ PACK, contact Jeffrey Tan, Director of Operational Excellence.

With the approaching completion of our new $6 million, 37,800 square-foot office building located on the Vopak Deer Park campus site, Vopak North America hopes to improve our internal communications, increase efficiency and consolidate personnel in one location. Begun in August, 2010, this new office will be a modern building where our employees can collaborate and work together.

Upon completion, the office building will accommodate about 120 Vopak employees, including current terminal operations staff, Gulf Coast operations staff and North America Shared Services staff.

In accordance with Vopak’s emphasis on sustainability, the new office building is being built to the standards specified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

At the same time, two new ship docks are being built to increase our vessel handling capacity from three vessels to four.

The ship docks – one of which was completed in February and the second which will be open in May – will lead to reducing both customer waiting time and demurrage costs related to wait times previously experienced by vessels to be called into our docks.

“We look forward with excitement to having our new docks and office building commissioned this year,” said Lawrence Waldron, General Manager of the Gulf Coast Terminals. “The two new docks will provide improved marine service levels to our customers.”

Mohawk College is a College of Applied Arts and Technology with approximately 11,700 full-time students and 46,000 continuing education students pursuing degrees in more than 100 college and apprenticeship programs.

According to Mark de Hueck, General Manager of Vopak Terminals of Canada, “The purpose of our endowment is to connect with the local community in a meaningful fashion, which will have a long-term impact on many students on an ongoing basis. The criteria for our program are very broad and aimed to help deserving students in need.”

Applicants for the Vopak scholarship should be second- or third-year students who are Ontario residents enrolled in a full-time program at Mohawk College, with a grade point average of 75 percent. Scholarship recipients will be selected each year by the Mohawk College Awards Office and Selection Committee, with student performance and need taken into consideration.

Because Mohawk College is a local leader in the training of students in trade professions, de Hueck explains “Part Two of our plan is to also place co-op students in the terminal in technical capacities, helping them gain real-world work experience.”

For the first time in Vopak Terminal Deer Park’s long history, the Terminal has achieved more than two million Safe-Work Hours without a Lost Time Injury (LTI).

According to Duane Campbell, Safety and Health Manager for the Gulf Coast terminals, “February, 2004 was the first time that the site achieved one million safework hours. At that time, the terminal was presented with a proclamation from the Vopak board celebrating the milestone.”

On its way to this current milestone, Vopak Deer Park attained the one million safework hour mark in April of 2008 and the official two million safe-work hour mark in August of 2010. “Our safe-work hour mark is still growing today,” says Campbell.

Vopak Gulf Coast has been celebrating this important milestone in several different ways over the course of the first quarter of 2011. The SHEQ Department distributed commemorative hooded sweatshirts, or “hoodies,” to all Vopak personnel at the Deer Park Terminal, to help keep them warm during the cold winter weather.

In addition to this gift, the Deer Park Terminal will also celebrate this safe workplace milestone in conjunction with the opening of the new office building in April 2011, with a cookout and open house celebration event. Steaks will be cooked by the Deer Park Terminal leadership team and served with all the fixings. “We have achieved this milestone and continue to build the number of safe work hours by placing a constant focus on safety,” explains David Vasquez, Terminal Manager.

“We open every meeting with a safety topic, making sure it’s at the top of everyone’s mind. By infusing safety into every piece of our business and leading by example, you begin to change the culture. It is from here that you build a safetyoriented foundation strong enough to support a world-class safety organization that continues to improve and reach these safe-work hour milestones.”

According to Montiano Blom, Commercial Excellence Initiatives Manager, SBS connects operational capabilities and planning with Vopak’s customer service needs. Customers can assign reference numbers to orders and carriers can track their loads via this reference number. “SBS is fully integrated with our terminal core IT system. What this means for our customers and carriers is that they now have 24/7 web access to a scheduling system that contains almost real time updated information,” noted Blom.

In addition, Vopak North America can now produce reports to support analysis on how effective scheduling has become. Customers and carriers can opt to receive an email notification reporting if the carrier arrived late at the terminal.

In the very near future, the SBS website will include several documents for customers and carriers to download, which will assist in further streamlining truck processing at Vopak North America terminals. Currently, carriers can find truck loading check-in forms for general and caustic/water blend deliveries and pick-ups [Image B].

Parent company, Royal Vopak, developed and launched SBS two years ago in the Netherlands for three Vopak terminals. Vopak North America’s Deer Park and Galena Park terminals launched SBS in March, with Long Beach, CA and Savannah, GA terminals following in May 2010.

With the Slot Booking System, Vopak North America is delivering a higher service level for customers and their carriers.

For more information and user regulations, please visit www.vopakamericas.com/truck-slot-booking.

Dock expansion means better service to Vopak customers

For the short term, Vopak has managed this issue by increasing dock throughput via more efficient planning and pre-berthing preparation. Although these changes improved vessel turnaround time, growing business volume continues to drive increased dock utilization. Vessel wait times have risen as dock utilization levels escalate. According to Stephen Mackay, “To achieve our two major strategic goals of Customer Leadership and Business Growth, we realized we had to address the demurrage issue more effectively.”

Three new docks to be completed by 2011

Deer Park decided the best long-term solution would be to increase the number of ship docks servicing Vopak customers by expanding and enhancing Ship Dock 3. “The scope of this project is to add two new jetties and alter Ship Dock #3 by constructing two extensions to the existing ship dock -- one to the east side and one to the west,” explains Mackay. “Extensions will be constructed for optimal safety and efficiency with hose towers, cranes, vapor recovery systems, associated piping, valves and advanced equipment needed to prepare us for a more fully automated terminal in the future.”

In addition, another barge dock (BD2) will be built along the shoreside of the new Eastern Dock. The new configuration allows a maximum of four ships and eight barges, compared to the current maximum of three ships and seven barges. Complete construction will take a full year, but one dock will be brought into service by approximately 4Q-2010. Overall completion is slated for early 2011.

 Other advantages afforded by the new ship dock include:

• Improved dock capacity (from 3 to 4), which is expected to save up to $30 million per year in customer demurrage charges;

• Faster turnaround capability, which will promote the business potential for existing customers, and drive greater terminal throughput; and

“The design we selected will also enable us to handle larger cargoes,” says Mackay. “This will enable us to  volume products such as fuels and ethanol, and realize our long-term strategy to do more with less.”