The Port of

Sines Sines () is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The municipality, divided into two parishes, has around 14,214 inhabitants (2021) in an area of . Sines holds an important oil refinery and several petrochemical industries. It is also a popular ...

is the largest artificial port in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

, and a deep water

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

, natural backgrounds to -28 m ZH with specialized terminals that allow the movement of different types of goods. Besides being the main port on the Atlantic seaboard of Portugal due to its geophysical characteristics, is the main gateway to the energy supply of Portugal:

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

and its derivatives. Construction started in 1973 and it came into operation in 1978. The Port of Sines Administration (''Administração do Porto de Sines'', APS) was created on 14 December 1977. The port operates 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, providing services such as: control of maritime traffic; pilotage, towage and mooring; access control and surveillance; drinking water and bunkers; prevent accidents/pollution; repairs on board or ashore. The Port of Sines is located at 37° 57′ north latitude and 08° 52′ west longitude, 58 nautical miles south of

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

Location and hinterland

The Port of Sines is located on the Southwest of Europe, south from Lisbon, on the cross of the main international maritime routes – East-West and North-South. (Latitude: 37° 57′ N Longitude: 08° 53′ W) The Port of Sines direct

hinterland Hinterland is a German word meaning "the land behind" (a city, a port, or similar). Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated ...

comprises all the south and midland part of Portugal. It is located at 150 km from

, 125 km from

Évora Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District. Due to its well-preserved old to ...

, 100 km from Beja and 182 km from Faro. Users of the port can interact with all the authorities and port services through a single communication channel.

Terminals

Liquid Bulk Terminal

The Liquid Bulk Terminal (TGLS), inaugurated in 1978, is the largest liquid bulk terminal in the country. With six

jetties A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...

and natural beds down to 28 metres ZH, it has the capacity to receive vessels up to 350,000 tones Dwt, and allows the simultaneous handling of different products (crude, refined products, liquefied gases and other liquid bulks). This terminal is operated by CLT – Companhia Logística de Terminais Marítimos.

Petrochemical Terminal

Since 1981 the Port of Sines has a terminal dedicated to petrochemical products, which allows the handling of goods via a dedicated pipeline between vessels and the petrochemical complex located in the ZILS – Sines Industrial and Logistics Area of Sines. This terminal is run by

Repsol Repsol S.A.
El Nuevo Herald, 2012-05-31Originally an init ...

Polímeros.

Multipurpose Terminal

The Sines Multipurpose Terminal came on line in 1992 under a public service concession granted to the company Portsines. It is geared towards handling solid bulk, general cargo and ro-ro. It has 4 berths with a total length of 645 metres at the extrados and 296 meters at the intrados. With depths going down to 18 metres ZH, this allows the reception of ships up to 190,000 tonnes Dwt.

LNG Terminal

The

Liquefied Natural Gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

Terminal started in 2003 and is run under a private use concession by the company REN Atlântico, today handling over 60% of the

consumed in Portugal. Equipped with one jetty with beds of 15 metres ZH, it allows the reception of LNG tankers up to 216,000 cubic metres.

Container Terminal – Terminal XXI

The Sines

Container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

Terminal, called Terminal XXI, started its operations in 2004 under a public service concession by the company PSA Sines (PSA, a global port operator, formerly the Port of Singapore Authority). Terminal XXI provides beds of 16 metres ZH, allowing the mooring of large container ships from intercontinental routes and of the ships with the respective connections by feeder. The open sea port is sheltered by two

breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...

s – West Breakwater (2.000 m N-S orientation) and the East Breakwater (2.200 m NW-SE orientation). The Port of Sines and the Industrial and Logistics Zone offer road and rail connections directly linked to the terminals. Links to both the Portuguese and Spanish hinterland (IC33 – Sines/Évora/Spain; IP8 – Sines/Beja/Spain; and rail connection Sines/Elvas/Spain) are planned. The land allocated to the development of the ZAL at Sines covers two areas: one situated in the intra-port zone and the other one in the extra-port zone The fishing harbour is formed by an inner basin sheltered by a breakwater.

References

External links

* General characteristics. Porto de Sines nline Sines: Administração do Porto de Sines, 2007. onsult. 30 Abr. 2008 Available at WWW: . * Location and hinterland. Porto de Sines nline Sines: Administração do Porto de Sines, 2007. onsult. 30 Abr. 2008 Available at WWW: . * Port services. Porto de Sines nline Sines: Administração do Porto de Sines, 2007. onsult. 30 Abr. 2008 Available at WWW: . {{Ports in Portugal Ports and harbours of Portugal Geography of Setúbal District Sines