Sumimoto plans California acid terminal

Sumitomo Corporation has agreed on a land lease agreement with the Port of Stockton, California, and will build a sulphuric acid tank terminal at the port.

The Terminal will be equipped with a 30,000 ton sulphuric acid tank, diluting facilities and freight car/truck shipping facilities with construction expenses expected to total about two billion yen. Construction is scheduled to begin by the end of 2017, and operation should start in early 2019. The Port of Stockton is a key import/export port on the US West Coast located about 100 km east of San Francisco Bay, annually handling four million tons of cargo, primarily fertiliser, grain, cement, steel materials, and coal. West Coast demand for sulphuric acid is expected to increase in future, particularly for agricultural, mining and industrial use, and the Port of Stockton offers good access to consumers.

The Terminal will be the only sulphuric acid receiving terminal on the West Coast, and Sumitomo Corporation will seek to sell more than 200,000 tons of sulphuric acid per year to West Coast customers through Sulphuric Acid Trading Company (SATCO), a US business of Sumitomo Corporation subsidiary Interacid Trading (ITSA). SATCO will be running the Terminal.

In California, the US’ largest agricultural zone, sulphuric acid is widely used to improve farmland soil. Faced with chronic water shortages recently, the state has been steadily introducing drip irrigation methods that allow for highly efficient water distribution, and sulphuric acid is being used to adjust irrigation water quality to make it suitable for drip irrigation. By utilising the Terminal to ensure a steady supply of sulphuric acid and help farmers make efficient use of water, Sumitomo Corporation hopes to contribute to community and industrial development, as well as to expand sales of sulphuric acid for use in mining, water treatment, and fertiliser manufacturing.

ITSA was established in Switzerland in 1970 as a chemicals trading company that, since 1993 when Sumitomo Corporation acquired 100% of its shares, has for more than 20 years been broadly involved internationally with the sulphuric acid trade and sulphuric acid tank terminals in the US, Chile and Australia. The Group presently owns 12 tanks boasting a capacity of more than 220,000 tons, and is a major player in the sulphuric acid industry, handling nearly three million tons annually. Sumitomo Corporation will continue pursuing synergy between the sulphuric acid trading business and the tank terminal business for the sake of further business growth.

For more information visit www.sumitomocorp.co.jp

16th Oct 2017