Unipetrol constructs logistics facility for new polyethylene unit

The Czech petrochemical corporation Unipetrol, a subsidiary of Polish ORLEN group, has awarded TALKE a contract for the engineering and construction of a logistics facility at its location in Litvinov. The value of the signed agreement amounts to 700 million CZK. The contract is part of new polyethylene unit project (PE3), the biggest investment in the history of the Czech petrochemical industry. The overall PE3 project costs are estimated at 8.5 billion CZK.

“The investment in to new polyethylene unit will help to contribute to greater integration of the petrochemical and refining production of Unipetrol Group and will enable us to reach out for new industrial segments, including cosmetic or packaging industry. It will increase our storage needs for polyethylene granules, so to ensure efficient storage and expedition of additional polyethylene volume produced by the new PE3 unit, we decided to build new modern logistics terminal at Litvinov chemical site,” said CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Unipetrol Marek Switajewski.

“We feel very honoured that Unipetrol has entrusted us with this project,” says Christoph Grunert, Director Logistics Europe at TALKE. “It is not only our biggest European construction project to date. This assignment also proves our strategy true, to support the chemical and petrochemical industries with high-quality logistics consulting, design and engineering – along with our transport and logistics operations.”

Unipetrol named TALKE as general contractor for the construction of a logistics facility to handle and package an annual volume of 270,000 tons of polyethylene type HDPE granules. The project includes the construction of a battery of 40 storage silos with a total capacity of 16,000 tons, the extension of an existing packaging hall, the installation of suitable machinery for bag filling, pallet packaging and truck loading. Also, the pneumatic conveying system for the transfer of product from the production site to the storage silos as well as new offices, cloakrooms and social facilities for the new logistics terminal are subject to the contract.

The entire concept of the logistics facility originates from a study previously executed by TALKE. It will be realised under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with completion planned for the first quarter of 2018. The new polyethylene unit is being built under INEOS license. Its construction was commenced in the beginning of June 2016.