The new Central Florida Pipeline will soon get its first customer as Houston-based Kinder Morgan Energy Partners starts shipping ethanol through the 106-mile pipe from the Port of Tampa to its terminal near Orlando International Airport.
This story in the Orlando Business Journal says this will take 40 fuel trucks a day off the road:
Although the pipeline was already in place, reaching the point where Kinder Morgan was able to begin shipping ethanol was no easy undertaking.
The company spent $30 million on improvements to its facilities in Tampa and Orlando, such as storage tanks, truck racks and rail off-load facilities. Now, the Tampa terminal can store up to 240,000 barrels of ethanol; the Orlando terminal, 45,000 barrels.
The company spent another $10 million on improvements to the existing pipeline itself to ensure it could be used for ethanol, which is much more corrosive than gasoline.
Kinder Morgan’s Tampa terminal receives ethanol transported by rail, barges and other vessels, said spokeswoman Emily Mir Thompson.
The move is seen as setting a precedent for pipeline ethanol distribution.