The new bespoke Mobile Storage Tank is part of a £750,000 investment by PolyBitumens into its fleet during the next two years. The tank has been designed specifically to a reduced width of 2.55m so that it can be legally driven on the UK road network with no requirements for a restricted movement order. The first purpose built Mobile Storage tank was collected on 2nd July 2019 and is the first in the UK that has been successfully IVA (Individual Vehicle Approval) approved.

An additional two further tanks will be completed and ready for collection in July 2019, with further additional investments in more units planned for later this year.

These new mobile storage tanks will support the Specialist Treatments operations and other clients, providing storage capacity for emulsions that will allow our teams to deliver high volume outputs throughout the country.

The new designed units can store up to 55,000 litres of emulsion per unit. They are also fitted with state-of-the-art technology that will allow the tracking of material volumes within the units, which can be monitored remotely from the PolyBitumens plant. This will allow PolyBitumens to support and manage Production and Stock Control more efficiently, as well as improving the Scheduling of Deliveries in the future.

Paul Goosey, Eurovia Production Managing Director, said: “The Mobile Storage tanks represent a continued investment at our new PMB and Emulsion facility and continues to develop our offerings to enhance our PolyBitumens fleet. This will support our emulsion and bitumen deliveries for our internal contracts and offer a function not currently provided elsewhere within the industry.

“Having the first ‘Road Legal’ unit that can be easily manoeuvred around the country will allow our PolyBitumens and Specialist Businesses to remain agile and flexible to accommodate our service delivery requirements.”

Opened in early 2019, the state-of-the-art PolyBitumens facility produces PMB and bitumen emulsions for high performance surface treatments. The products made at PolyBitumens are used on various road improvement schemes across southern England and the UK more widely, limiting dependency on plants in north-western England, and drastically reducing annual vehicle miles.

The PMB storage tank and the raw bitumen storage tank, with 100t and 94t capacities respectively, were expertly designed in France by Thermaflu and brought across the Channel by lorry. In a week that saw snow, strong arctic winds and sub-zero temperatures hit eastern England, the tanks and their access platforms were carefully lifted into place by two cranes working in tandem: the main crane, with a lifting capacity of 160t, carried most of the weight, whilst the tailing crane provided stability when lifting the tanks off each lorry from a horizontal to a vertical position.

Paul Kimber, Divisional Manager – PolyBitumens, said: “Given the snow we had earlier in the week, we were worried that the installation might be delayed. It is testament to the planning and great work of our team, plus the professionalism of the crane operators that everything went as smoothly as it did. The tanks are an important investment in the future development of our business; the enhanced storage capacity will ensure we are ready to support the renewed focus on investment in infrastructure as we come out of this pandemic.” 

Paul Goosey, Managing Director – Eurovia Production, said: “The installation of new storage tanks greatly expands our production capabilities, ensuring that we continue to provide innovative products that support the delivery of excellent highway services across the region. Congratulations to everyone involved in the robust planning and implementation that made the tank installation a success, in spite of the challenging cold and windy weather.”