DUBAI: AquaChemie Middle East is investing $40 million for a chemical terminal facility at Jebel Ali Port in Dubai which will serve as the chemical distributor’s gateway hub across the Gulf and beyond the region. Mott MacDonald has been signed on for the design, engineering and project management of the chemical terminal, scheduled to be commissioned by mid-2021, statement from AquaChemie Middle East said. “The new chemical terminal will leverage its prime site location at Jebel Ali Port operated by DP World, including multiple jetty pipelines, along with other crucial existing utility and building support infrastructure,” it added. When operational, the chemical terminal will have bulk storage tanks for liquid hydrocarbons with approximately 30,000 cubic meters in today capacity along with day tanks, chemical processing units, automated drumming lines. It will also feature a tanker loading-unloading gantry with top loading arms, covered warehousing for storage of NFPA class 1B and C chemicals and separate dry goods storage area, among others. “The project will serve as a catalyst to boost petrochemical trade between manufacturers in the region and end-users anywhere in the globe. In addition to serving as a sales channel, the project will also allow regional petrochemical majors to market their various product lines in drums or intermediate bulk containers for distribution to the tertiary chemical industry,” V. Anandkumar, Co-Founder and Director of AquaChemie Middle East, said in the statement. “The project will also serve as a regional hub for other global trading partners to ship economically, in bulk and distribute in smaller packaging.”