AFPM ’19: ITC fire at La Porte affecting neighboring facilities

SAN ANTONIO (ICIS)–The aftermath of a storage tank fire at a Intercontinental Terminals Company (ITC) facility in Deer Park/La Porte has stranded storage of liquid caustic soda, according to sources on Sunday.

The liquid caustic soda tanks are in an adjacent tank farm run by Vopak and are cut off from the logistics chain because a connecting rail spur runs through the ITC tank farm.

The ITC terminal burned for much of the past week, and the fire reignited on 22 March.

Connecting pipelines and other facilities at the Vopak facility have melted or are otherwise unusable, the sources said.

The sources were speaking on the sidelines of the International Petrochemical Conference (IPC).

Additionally, portions of the Houston Ship Channel remain closed due to chemical runoff into the waterway after an earthen berm breach.

It remains to be seen how long the caustic soda tanks will be cut off from their delivery to markets, how long the fire investigation will keep the site cut off, or when the Houston Ship Channel will reopen.

Sources said they expected the Vopak facility, as well as the Ship Channel, to be restored in days, or perhaps a little more than a week, rather than weeks.

Hosted by the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), the IPC takes place on 24-26 March in San Antonio, Texas.