daa and Spanish Aviation Fuel specialists Compania Logistica de Hidrocarburos, CLH, announced the initiation of the project to redevelop the existing fuelling facilities at Dublin Airport and extend the fuelling network across the airport apron to ultimately provide direct fuelling facilities at each of the operating piers of the airport.
The existing fuelling facilities at the airport consist of a three-tank fuel farm in a land-side location from which the fleet of aircraft using Dublin are supplied fuel by fueller trucks (bowsers) which deliver aviation fuel into the aircraft. An underground fuel pipeline (hydrant) was installed as part of the construction of Terminal 2 but has yet to be activated. In the first phase of the works announced by daa and CLH, feeder pipelines will be extended from the fuel farm to connect with the Pier 4 hydrant at Terminal 2 so that aircraft fuelling will be facilitated by dispenser vehicles which will meter volumes of fuel pumped from the hydrant to the aircraft.
Simultaneously with the installation of the feeder pipeline to Pier 4, works will commence to redevelop the 40-year old fuel farm which currently has a storage capacity of approximately 2,400m³ in three separate tanks. The revised capacity of the fuel farm will, on completion, rise to 15,000m³, giving the airport a much more flexible working window for the supply of aviation fuel to its client airlines.
Once the connection is made to Pier 4, the feeder pipeline network will extend to provide a hydrant service to part of Pier 3 and an all-stand hydrant service to Pier 1. In the case of the latter two Piers, the hydrant installation will also be undertaken by CLH, synchronised with other capital projects works to upgrade and rehabilitate the airport apron and the movements of aircraft at each of the Piers.
While the storage capacity at the fuel farm will be substantially increased with the construction of three new tanks, two of the existing tanks will be refurbished to provide water storage for fire-fighting purposes and a facility for the storage of foam, also for fire-fighting will be developed. Building works within the fuel farm will include a new Vehicle Service Building and new premises for the Operators of the fuelling facilities and the Into-Plane Agents who are responsible for the physical delivery of fuel to the aircraft.
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The management of the construction activities within the fuel farm combined with the continued operation of the delivery of aviation fuel to aircraft is one of the key challenges for CLH, but all construction activities will need to be managed in tandem with the substantial operations and aircraft movements of an airport that saw 25 million passengers pass through its portals in 2015, a 15% growth on the 2014 figure.
The appointment of CLH on a 20-year Concession to Design, Finance, Build, Operate and Transfer (DFBOT) contract for the redevelopment of the fuelling facilities at Dublin follows a process that extended over 18 months from the appointment of daa’s technical and legal teams, through a two stage procurement process.
From the outset of the procurement process, the principle of Open Access Fuel Supply was adopted by daa to allow appropriately qualified fuel suppliers to operate at Dublin Airport. With Open Access in place from 1st May 2016, new suppliers can now consider Dublin as another operational base for their product.
At the formal announcement of the project, attended by the Spanish Ambassador to Ireland, Mr. José María Rodríguez, the Chairman of CLH Mr. José Luis López de Silanes and the CEO of CLH, Mr. Jorge Lanza, respectively and a substantial representation of the CLH Executive Board, Mr Vincent Harrison, MD of Dublin Airport, Commercial General Manager, Mr John Brennan and members of the daa’s project team from Asset Management and Development, Procurement, Legal and Commercial, Arthur Cox, eJet International Limited and RPS Group, CLH’s CEO expressed his appreciation for the appointment of CLH to the project and advised that this was the second major project that CLH have embarked upon outside Spain, putting them in the upper echelons of fuel facilities management across the European market. He committed the full resources of the Spanish operation to the new entity that has been created for the Dublin project and advised that a strong team had been put in place to ensure that the project proceeds in accordance with the requirements of daa in its ongoing commitment to service its airline clients and passengers in a seamless manner while the redevelopment works are undertaken.
In response to these opening comments, the MD of Dublin Airport, Mr. Vincent Harrison advised that the redevelopment of the fuel facilities comes at a critical period in the airport’s growth as evidenced by the passenger numbers for 2015.
The increasing volume of traffic at the airport and the expected introduction of more long haul flights to complement the extensive network of connections that Dublin services with up to 1,800 flights a week, including a substantial service between Dublin and London has put increased pressure on the 40-year old fuel farm. The advent of a new enhanced storage facility and fuelling facilities within an overall two-year construction programmed is enthusiastically awaited.
The Chairman of CLH, Mr. José Luis López de Silanes, closed the formal proceedings by re-affirming his CEO’s opening comments on the welcome opportunity that working with Dublin Airport provided and alluding to the turnaround in the economic fortunes of both Spain and Ireland following very difficult recent experiences. He assured daa of their intention to work closely and attentively with daa and its project team members to deliver a key element in the future plans of the airport. The current CLH Group was formed in 1927 under the name of Compania Arrendataria del Monopolio de Petroleos, S.A. (CAMPSA) but has operated as the CLH Group since 1992. Today it is the leading company in Spain for oil product transportation and storage and is one of the largest private companies in its sector on an international level.
Project Team details.
daa: Mr Colman Horgan (AMD), Mr Andrew Baker, Ms Sarah Flood (Commercial), Mr Brain Collier (Procurement), Mr Conor Wyse (Legal).
Legal Team: Mr Aaron Boyle, Ms. Niav O’Higgins, Ms. Niamh McGovern (Arthur Cox).
Technical Team: Mr Larry O’Toole, Mr Cormac Bradley (RPS Group), Mr John Pitts, Aviation Fuel Expert (eJet International Limited.).
Planners: Mr Ciaran Wallace (Hugh Munro)
