Despite HTC being a relatively young company that recently celebrated its 25th birthday – it now operates six cleaning stations all across Belgium.
From 1st March, the company will open its latest cleaning facility at HTCHaven Noord in the Port of Antwerp.
HTC-Haven Noord has already been operational for a year as a container depot and container cleaning facility, but the facility has now added four additional cleaning lanes for manned operations.
Ready to go
HTC-Haven Noord is set to become the firm’s biggest installation which includes:
- four lanes for container cleaning;
- four lanes for manned cleaning;
- Depot facility for more than 2,000 containers;
- Parking places for 90 trailers;
- Fully equipped repair shop with 12 containers;
- Four heating spots.
The installation has been built using the latest technology, which is reflected in the use of a high-tech monitoring system for the consumption of water, steam and chemicals.
This new kit will ensure that the most efficient cleaning programmes are carried out.
A spokesman said: “With our experience over the last 25 years, and with this additional information, we will be able to clean tanks in the most efficient and effective way.”
Environmentally-friendly
In addition to the high-tech installation, HTC has put in a lot of effort to minimise its CO2 footprint.
The consumption of energy is minimised through hot water recuperation from the wastewater, gas cooling condensation and with an economiser on the steam boiler.
All the rainwater that drips from the roof is collected and, after special filtration, is re-used as part of the cleaning process.
A 1,500 m² area of the roof will also be completely covered with solar panels. HTC wants to improve its environmental impact not only by reducing carbon emissions, but it has other initiatives as well.
All possible emissions are extracted from the tanks and the gas washing installation using an active carbon filter before it is released into the atmosphere.
Even the first wastewater basin is completely closed, which ensures that all of the air is extracted over the gas washing installation. On the digitalisation side, HTC wants to be a leader.
HTC-Haven Noord will begin life as the first cleaning station using a completely digital electronic EFTCO Cleaning Document (eECD).
Every tank that goes out of the facility will get a digital eECD and no more paper ECDs will be issued. Initially there was some pushback from transport operators, but today it appears that all players in the marketplace see the benefits of having an eECD, thanks, in no small part, to the work and perseverance of HTC.
The north of the Port of Antwerp was specifically chosen for the facility because all the trucks and tankers coming from the Netherlands will have to pass HTC-Haven Noord before entering the port itself.
Additionally, the chemical cluster is also just a few minutes drive from HTC-Haven Noord. With this new installation located in the north and with HTC-Colombus and HTCContainer Services in the west, the company has the entire port of Antwerp covered.
The spokesman concluded: “HTC is a family-owned company that knows what it stands for.
“They are ambitious and they are always willing to grow, but they realise more than ever that they only can grow with the support of their partners and their customers.
“Therefore, they are always listening to their customers, they understand their needs and so the company is able to provide the best service. This is the only way to become a reliable partner and to bring tank cleaning to the next level. All for the flow!”
For more information: Visit htctc.com
State-of-the-art tank cleaning facility
