- Navigator Terminals
Navigator Terminals to develop feedstock, SAF terminal for Alfanar project in UK
Navigator Terminals, a provider of bulk liquid storage in the U.K., announced June 5 the signing of a comprehensive infrastructure partnership with Alfanar, a global renewables project developer, engineering and construction company.
Under the terms of the agreement, Navigator will develop the North Tees rail terminal for the receipt, storage and handling of up to 1 million metric tons of nonrecyclable waste feedstocks for Alfanar’s Lighthouse Green Fuels sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant located in Port Clarence and also construct the U.K.’s first SAF-handling terminal on its North Tees dockside.
The Lighthouse Green Fuels project is expected to be operational in 2028 produce approximately 10 percent of the U.K. government’s Jet Zero 2030 SAF target.
The government’s Jet Zero strategy will support aviation to reach net zero by 2050.
SAF produced at the plant has the potential to reduce emissions by up to 80 percent and the plant will produce more than 43.6 million gallons per year.
Navigator Terminals and Alfanar will enter a joint front-end engineering design (FEED) study this year to determine the key scope for the SAF-handling terminal.
“Navigator Terminals is committed to playing a leading role in delivering net zero for the U.K., as the U.K.’s leading transport, storage and handling experts, we operate a network of strategically located terminals,” said Jason Hornsby, CEO of Navigator Terminals. “We have supported Alfanar progress in its thinking around the Lighthouse SAF project for over 12 months and now are pleased to announce our formal partnership. It is exciting to bring forward plans for the U.K.’s first sustainable aviation fuel handling terminal on our North Tees dockside to rejuvenate this industrial land and push U.K. aviation that bit closer to net zero every time we fly.”
SAF is seen as a key component as a drop-in fuel that can be blended into fossil-based aviation fuel and used in existing aircraft and infrastructure without modification, therefore delivering both short- and long-term CO2-emissions savings.
Some experts view SAF as the only alternative to kerosene for long-haul flights up to 2050 and beyond, depending on the development of alternate flight-powering technologies such as hydrogen and batteries.
These alternate technologies are only in the early stages of development and may never achieve the energy-storage densities required for long-haul flights.
Navigator Terminals’ North Tees complex is a road-fuel and crude-oil storage facility with the region’s only deep-water jetty designed for petrochemicals, direct pipeline connecting to the North Sea and modern rail-distribution facilities.
Finished SAF will be exported via ship at the North Tees waterside complex.
SAF may also be exported via rail or truck at Navigator’s inland North Tees rail terminal.
“We are delighted to form a partnership with Navigator Terminals on Teesside,” said Mishal Almutlaq, the chief investment officer for Alfanar Global Development. “We kicked off the FEED study for our Lighthouse Green Fuels project in June 2022 and we are now looking to start engineering works associated with the buildout of the regional infrastructure on Teesside, and this includes partnering with Navigator Terminals. This will enable our facility to play a leading role in bringing SAF to the U.K. aviation sector and helping them to reach net zero. We see the Lighthouse Green Fuels project creating high-quality jobs to deliver and run our facility, but also creating a much wider regional economic boost as we start construction in 2024.”
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