Metro opens Long Island biodiesel blending, distribution terminal
Photo: Metro Terminals
September 7, 2011
BY Bryan Sims
The delivery of Bioheat and biodiesel will be moving smoother in the Northeast now that Brooklyn-based Metro Terminals Corp. completed construction of a new Bioheat and biodiesel blending and distribution facility at Enterprise Park in Calverton, Long Island, N.Y. Metro will host a grand opening of the terminal on Sept. 14 for local and state officials to celebrate the opening of the new facility.
According to Gene Pullo, president and CEO of Metro Terminals, the facility currently is capable of handling just more than 1 million gallons of Bioheat and biodiesel product. A second phase is underway to add an additional 1 million gallons, which would bring the terminal’s total blending/distribution capability to just more than 2 million gallons.
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“We’re trying to make Bioheat a mainstay product on the eastern end of Long Island,” Pullo told Biodiesel Magazine, adding that Metro had previously been transporting the majority of Bioheat in the Long Island area—roughly 20 million gallons annually—directly from its Brooklyn location because a minimum number of fuel retailers haven’t had access to the product.
Pullo said the terminal features four state-of-the-art computerized inline blending racks where four trucks can load at any given time. He added that Metro upgraded existing rail infrastructure and two main tanks—originally used by Northrop Grumman Corp. for aviation fuels testing—to accommodate Metro’s distribution services and anticipated uptick in rail traffic.
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“To utilize that volume and to make the economics work, having the rail infrastructure was the lynchpin,” Pullo said, adding that the opening of the terminal is the culmination of three years of development. “It’s a revitalization of a great historical location that will be helping to create jobs on the eastern end of Long Island and be able to bring biodiesel to the marketplace,” Pullo said.
Local and state dignitaries expected to attend the grand opening include: New York Sen. Kenneth Lavalle, New York assembly member Dan Losquadro, Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter, Riverhead Deputy Town Supervisor Jill Lewis, Riverhead Town Councilmember John Dunleavy and former New York assembly member Marc Alessi.
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