News Breakbulk & Project Cargo
‘ One ’ big project
Antwerp mega cracker cargo volumes to peak in 2025
By Keith Wallis
Transportation of outsized and heavy-lift cargo components for INEOS ’ s $ 4 billion Project One ethane cracker at Belgium ’ s Port of Antwerp will peak this year in the ramp up to the cracker becoming operational in mid-2026 , the chemical company says .
About 35 % of the total shipment volumes for the complex have already arrived at the INEOS marshalling yard in Antwerp , INEOS Project One logistics manager Gert Geeve told the Journal of Commerce .
The cracker will produce 1.45 million metric tons of ethane a year and is the largest investment in Europe ’ s chemical industry in more than 20 years . The project is expected to drive further investment at the Port of Antwerp , INEOS said .
Ethane is a key component in manufactured goods such as washing machines , automotive and healthcare products , wind turbine blades , solar panels and packaging , while hydrogen is a by-product of the cracking process .
The Port of Antwerp described the construction of Project One as “ a unique project on a unique scale ” that poses “ enormous logistical challenges .”
The scheme has brought together a smorgasbord of heavy-lift specialists . Freight forwarder and project logistics company deugro UK organizes the ocean transport of components , while Belgian forwarder Gosselin Group is the logistics control tower for the project , according to INEOS and the Port of Antwerp .
BigLift Shipping and Jumbo Maritime have carried the ocean shipments , while heavy-lift and transport players Sarens and Felbermayr are handling craning and land transport of components .
BigLift Shipping ’ s heavy-lift vessel Happy Star delivered the first heavy-lift cargo , a 591-ton splitter and a 347-ton demethanizer , in June 2024 .
Two shipments followed in August and September , each carrying five bullet-shaped gas processing units weighing 570 metric tons each and transported by Jumbo Maritime ’ s heavy-lift vessels Jumbo Fairmaster and Jumbo Fairplayer from Zhangjiagang in China ’ s Jiangsu province . deugro UK organized the shipment of the 10 tanks — critical elements in Project One ’ s storage and processing infrastructure — in partnership with deugro China and deugro Chartering , Jumbo Maritime and the Port of Antwerp .
‘ Sufficient and suitable ’
deugro said sourcing the heavy-lift vessels and loading the cargo onboard the ships posed challenges .
“ A challenge was to identify and secure sufficient vessel space on suitable heavy-lift vessels with the appropriate lifting capacities and within the tight schedule of only six weeks , from the receipt of the order to loading ,” Kai von Taube , deugro ’ s head of global chartering , told the Journal of Commerce .
Jumbo Fairmaster , with a total lifting capacity of 3,000 metric tons , and Jumbo Fairplayer , with a smaller combined capacity of 1,800 metric tons , are among the few heavy-lift vessels globally capable of handling loads of more than 1,500 metric tons .
“[ The number of ] such vessels which can safely handle and ship sensitive oversized and heavy lift components are limited and often booked for considerable periods in advance ,” von Taube said . “ However , thanks … to our long-standing strategic carrier relationships , we were able to secure the required vessel space within just two weeks .”
David Richardson , deugro ’ s UK operations manager , told the Journal of Commerce loading oversized and heavy-lift cargo components onto a floating vessel is “ always a critical operation , even more when deck and vessel space is strictly limited and calculated down to the nearest centimeter .”
email : keithwallis @ hotmail . com
The $ 4 billion Project One cracker will produce 1.45 million mt of ethane per year . INEOS
22 Journal of Commerce | March 2025 www . joc . com