Vopak receives multisite ISCC for biofuels storage terminals

Vopak has been awarded the first multisite International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) for a number of its storage terminals.

The company certified its first terminal in Rotterdam on 13 December 2011. ‘Rotterdam is the biofuels hub of Europe,’ Maurice Houben, Vopak’s sales and marketing manager for global vegoils and biofuels,’ explains. ‘Many traders and blenders ship their biofuels via the port and were auditing their supply chains, resulting in audit requests for our terminals.’

The multisite certificate applies to five Rotterdam-based terminals, two facilities in the Houston area of the US and one in Jakarta, Indonesia. Vopak is already looking to expand on this and announced it is considering adding terminals in Hamburg and Barcelona to the certificate in the next 12 months.

The plan is to have a terminal in Singapore certified by July 2013.

'The certification is another step to further enhance our biofuels terminal network and to remain a reliable partner for both our local and international ethanol and biodiesel customers,' Vopak says.

The company was guided by Control Union Certifications. The entire process took about six months.

The time was spend on preparation, setting-up the internal ISCC team, creating training documents, incorporating the ISCC internal audit in the general company audit approach and executing external audits at the corporate office and three storage locations.

 

The cost incurred consist of costs for external auditing and certification costs on top of the man-hours invested to integrate the certification requirements in Vopak’s standard way of working.

In order for biofuels to access the European markets and count towards the biofuels blending mandates, specific sustainability requirements must be met by the companies involved in the biofuel supply chain. Customers that need ISCC certified storage can use Vopak’s terminals without having to worry – it is an automatic confirmation that they operate according to sustainability standards.

Between 5 - 7.5% EBIT share of Vopak’s capacity is used for the storage of biofuels and vegoils and the company believes that going forward renewable fuels will remains part of the transportation mix.