Tranmere Oil Terminal is situated on the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...

, south of

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

. It was opened on 8 June 1960 to handle vessels of up to 65,000 tons, at two berths (North and South). It is connected to the Stanlow Oil Refinery by a pipeline. Part of the terminal occupies the site of a former ferry service to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, with the extant pier considerably modified.

History

The terminal was built jointly by Shell Oil, then the owner of Stanlow Oil Refinery, and the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board at a cost of £6 million. It was built to replace

Eastham Oil Terminal Eastham Oil Terminal is situated close to the small town of Eastham on the Wirral Peninsula, beside the Manchester Ship Canal. It was commissioned in 1954 close to the Queen Elizabeth II Dock and is a storage and export facility for oil prod ...

which had only been inaugurated in 1954, but which did not have sufficient water depth to handle the 65,000 ton vessels that were operating by 1960. By 2001, the terminal had two converted crude oil tanks which could handle . These were used for the storage of

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

from the

Foinaven oilfield Foinaven oilfield is deepwater oil development approximately west of the Shetland Islands. Together with Schiehallion, Loyal, Solan, Clair and Lancaster fields it forms the area generally termed as the West of Shetland. Field description Foin ...

Current operations

All the crude oil feedstock for Stanlow Oil Refinery is delivered via the Tranmere terminal. The terminal is capable of handling vessels of up to 65,000 tonnes, and cargo sizes up to 170,000 tonnes on part laden Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs). Tranmere currently (2020) handles 140 ships every year, carrying a total of 9 million tonnes of crude oil. The minimum water depth at Tranmere is 40 ft. (12.2 m), and there is a tidal range of 30 ft. (9.14 m). The terminal is operated by the

Mersey Docks and Harbour Company The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC), formerly the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board (MDHB), owns and administers the dock facilities of the Port of Liverpool, on the River Mersey, England. These include the operation of the enclosed nort ...

References

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MultiMap
Buildings and structures in Birkenhead Mersey docks Petroleum infrastructure in the United Kingdom Oil terminals Peel Ports {{petroleum-stub

History

Current operations

See also

References

Sources

External links