Alkion Amsterdam: A visionary new hub for biofuels

Biofuels have an important role to play within the energy transition. However, significant new infrastructure is necessary if they are to fulfil their potential. Alkion Terminal Amsterdam (ATA) is helping to make this happen by redeveloping an unused plot of land adjacent to the terminal site. This has the potential to add up to 52,000 cbm of biofuels and feedstocks storage capacity.

ATA is building 23 new duplex steel tanks ranging from 2,000 – 2,500 cbm in size, many of them with dedicated pipelines. Most of the tanks will be insulated and heated using electrical plug-in heaters. There will also be a new and dedicated jetty and two new truck loading bays to avoid congestion and ensure that operations are fully segregated from existing activities

Go, go, go…

This bold and significant step establishes Alkion as an important biofuels distribution location for the ARA (Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp) region and accelerates the energy transition in the North Sea Canal area. The project was first discussed in 2018 but powered ahead when a large fuel supplier committed as an anchor customer. Meanwhile, in 2020 the Port of Amsterdam completed the remediation of the land plot, ensuring that no World War II bombs were present. Moreover, the new capacity is located next to our existing terminal that already handles some biofuels, creating synergies.

Reaching new customers

This expansion has the potential to increase ATA’s storage capacity by 66%. This will enable Alkion to serve different players including biodiesel producers, feedstock importers and exporters, as well as customers making final blends as to the ones with spot demand. And, crucially, it allows ATA to go beyond the Netherlands and serve customers from Germany, Austria and Scandinavia who see ARA as a key international logistics hub.

Building in more flexibility

Biofuels bring new complexities because feedstocks are made from multiple different plants and sourced from numerous different countries. This leads to different grades and products specs as well as smaller batch sizes. Storage therefore demands smaller, segregated tanks that create the flexibility that enables blending to the right product quality specification. Inline blending, homogenising, automatic additive injection and some other services will be possible so that we can offer tailor-made solutions to our customers.


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