Budapest, Tiszaújváros, 22 May 2020 - The investment of MOL's 1.2 billion Euro polyol complex has reached an important milestone. Since November, a total of 65 equipment have arrived by water with 36 shiploads, and the last giant equipment delivered to Tiszaújváros on the Tisza also arrived in May.
The equipment and modules of the polyol complex have been manufactured at several locations of the world. Most of the equipment could not be carried on the road due to their weight and size, so the waterway was chosen for their transport. When planning the transport, it had to be taken into account that - based on the data of the last 15 years - the water level of the Tisza is suitable for such transports only for a short period of the year. Since November 2019, a total of 65 equipment have “sailed” on the Tisza, weighing between 10 and 400 tons, and ranging in size from a few meters to 45 meters. During the six months, the water level of the Tisza decreased 3 times to such a level that deliveries had to be temporarily stopped.
Ready-made units arrived from Thailand and other equipment from many countries around the world from Spain to China. The sea shipments arrived in Konstanz on the Black Sea, from where the equipment was sailed on river trains on the Danube and the Tisza to Tiszaújváros. The rest of the shipments started from Genk, Belgium, from where the Rhine, Main, Rhine-Main-Danube canals, Danube, and Tisza routes were used for river transport.
A new temporary port had to be built on the banks of the Tisza, where a heavy-duty crawler crane lifted the loads onto special transport vehicles. The shipments reached the construction site from the port on a dedicated road.
Some interesting things:
The new polyol complex, which produces plastic feedstock, is MOL's largest organic investment to date, with a total of EUR 1.2 billion. The plant will employ more than 200 people and will be able to process 200,000 tons of propylene oxide per year, which it converts into polyols. Polyol is one of the most sought-after petrochemical products today, as it is the feedstock for polyurethane, which is the “Swiss Army knife” of the industry: it is used almost everywhere from construction to furniture manufacturing to the automotive and textile industries.
