ExxonMobil Chemical Co. has signed a 10-year contract with German logistics firm Talke Group to package and export new polyethylene capacity from ExxonMobil in Mont Belvieu, Texas.
The contract calls for Talke to handle almost 3 billion pounds of new PE capacity. That capacity is set to come online during 2017. Talke will deliver the material in 55-pound bags from Mont Belvieu to the Port of Houston — about 25 miles away — where it will be exported to markets worldwide, Talke officials said in a recent news release.
Some of the new PE will be delivered for transport by containers on rail. The project calls for Talke installing five state-of-the-art packaging lines and creating more than 200 jobs for material handling, transport and information technology.
The project also marks the first in the U.S. for Talke, which is based in Huerth-Kalscheuren and was founded as a chemicals transporter in 1947.
In the release, Managing Director Alfred Talke said that the ExxonMobil contract shows that his firm's strategy of offering logistics services, consulting and IT to the chemical and petrochemical supply chain is “the right one” for the company.
ExxonMobil — based in The Woodlands, Texas — is one of several North American firms adding new PE capacity because of newfound supplies of affordable natural gas feedstock throughout the region. Much of this new PE capacity is expected to be exported outside of North America.
Several other logistics firms are making substantial investments in packing and shipping facilities in the Houston area to move the new PE to its final destinations.