The liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification plant Gate terminal, located in Maasvlakte (Rotterdam) has been named “project of the year” by the European Construction Institute (ECI) and is featured as the cover of HP’s August issue. The award was announced by the Institute during the 23rd Annual ECI conference in Düsseldorf, Germany. ECI is Europe’s only transnational learning and improvement network covering the entire project cycle for engineering construction.

The Gate terminal megaproject is one of the largest LNG terminals in Europe, with an initial throughput capacity of 12 billion m³/yr and three 180,000-m³ storage tanks. The terminal has two jetties and is able to unload simultaneously two vessels of the Q-Max type (the world’s largest LNG carriers). The high-scale Gate terminal is able to fulfill the natural gas needs for The Netherlands and part of Europe. Total project cost is estimated at 800 million euros.

This project is a success story. TS LNG—a joint venture of Techint-SENER and TSEV (Techint-SENER-Entrepose-Vinci), the main contractor of the plant—delivered the facility to the client on September 1, 2011, as planned, complying successfully with the EPC contract. The project began in June 2008; special attention was consistently applied to safety, protecting the environment, operational availability and versatility. This plant is environmentally friendly, and it was designed for the “unthinkable.” For example, it has a safe shutdown earthquake element with a return period of 5,000 years. The Gate terminal was designed to manage rising sea levels linked to global warming and to comply with the latest safety and security standards, such as SEVESO, HAZOP, HAZID, ISPS, SVA, etc.

Along with the plant’s design, onsite safety was a high priority for the main contractors and the TSEV consortium. More importantly, the construction phase was completed with one of the highest levels of safety ever recorded for works implemented in Rotterdam’s Europort (boasting more than 2.5 million work hours without accidents).

The TS LNG joint venture was in charge of managing the engineering, procurement, construction and start-up of the LNG plant. Techint E&C was the leader for the building consortium TSEV, and the company was also assigned the entire project and site management, together with the supervision of construction works. SENER participated in project management, procurement and construction works. Also, SENER was responsible for managing the plant’s implementation, commissioning and start-up, as well as for the engineering activities. In addition, the Gate terminal was also named “LNG Project of the Year” in January 2012 by the European Gas Conference Awards. HP

Fig. 1. Aerial view of Gate terminal at   Rotterdam.

Fig. 2. Workers finish insulating pipework at   the Gate terminal LNG facility.