StocExpo 2014 Round Up

StocExpo 2014, which took place at Ahoy Rotterdam, was the biggest event of the year for Europe’s terminal operators, oil companies, traders and regulators. Over 2,942 visitors attended the show, a 32% increase from 2013. The event featured a record, 200 exhibitors and over 200 people attended the StocExpo conference – a major leap on previous years.

The paid-for three day conference, designed to help operators adapt to the changing market and prepare for the year ahead, featured over 20 world class speakers covering everything from emerging transport fuels to finance and from shale to cyber security.

Dr Frits Eulderink, Executive Board Member & Chief Operating Officer of Royal Vopak, explored the emergence of LNG as a transport fuel and provided an update on Thames Oilport storage conversion.

Sandra De Bont, Director at VOTOB, (The Association of Independent Tank Storage Companies) talked about ensuring terminal safety and explained how the Safety Maturity Tool works. In December 2012 the members of the VOTOB unanimously adopted a new approach called the ‘VOTOB Safety Plan’ which includes the tool. “The starting point of this plan is that companies themselves bear the primary responsibility for their security,” she said. “Companies need to measure their safety performance and thus get a detailed picture of where their strengths and their weaknesses lie.”

StocExpo also featured the latest developments in tank design, construction, maintenance, metering, measuring, pumps and valves - with many technologies receiving their global debuts at the show.

First time exhibitor, MPT, the dosing and mixing specialist, demonstrated how its Pulsair equipment is up to 95% more energy efficient than mechanical mixers.

Protego also introduced new products at StocExpo – the Protego EB is an endurance burning proof flame arrester and The Emergency Pressure Relief Valve Protego ER-V-LP, is a new valve pallet technology.

ENDEGS the degassing specialists, showcased its solution capabilities for emission control during maintenance activities, loading applications or as back up of gas engines and customised solutions in refinery, tank storage, ports and pipelines.

Chubb Ajax unveiled its FlexSonic Acoustic Gas Leak Detector, a revolutionary step forward compared with traditional gas leak detectors.  It is designed to withstand the harshest environments, whilst the detector analyses 24 discrete ultrasonic bands, ignoring nuisance ultrasonic sources.

StocExpo was also the show debut for TTK’s Hydrocarbon Sense Cables, an embedded microchip in each FG-OD cable means these cables can be used for multiple leak detection and localisation thanks to independent digital addressing.

StocExpo 2015 takes place from 17 to 19 March 2015 at Ahoy Expo, Rotterdam.