Specialised cleaning services in the US

Stolthaven Terminals’ facilities in Houston and New Orleans offer highly specialised tank cleaning services at third party facilities, including those requiring advanced cleaning techniques with vapour control. 

With our experience and expertise in cleaning storage tanks at our own facilities, we can offer quick turnarounds and cost-efficient services, maintaining the highest safety standards, and ensure that almost any type of residue is thoroughly removed from your assets, meeting highest standard of cleanliness for storage. We also have experience of Kosher cleaning.  

Stolthaven Terminals is also able to manage the slops from cleaning tanks, using the existing wastewater plants at our terminals in Houston and New Orleans and third-party facilities. 

Our US terminals provide bespoke major and light railcar repairs to help ensure our customers’ assets are maintained to the highest quality standards and support the smooth and efficient delivery of their products.  

All repairs are performed in accordance with the Association of American Railroads (AAR), the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) requirements and include: 

• general safety appliances and running repairs, such as air brake systems  
• replacing defective truck parts including damaged wheels 
• rebuilding of flanged valves, BOV and PRD, recertification of all valves on railcars 
• interchange repairs 
• stenciling and repainting touch-up 
• tank car service change of service interchange 

In the near future, SHVN Houston and NOLA will also offer efficient railcar requalifications, including jacketed railcars, to help customers significantly reduce the downtime this process can cause and ensure their assets remain fit for purpose.  

This process must be completed at least every ten years, under federal HM216B regulations, and there is often a waiting time of up to six months. At Stolthaven Houston and New Orleans, our expertise and facilities mean we will be able to provide this service within four to six weeks. 

Stolthaven Houston and New Orleans maintain and operate onsite kosher-certified cleaning facilities that provide a range of highly specialised interior and exterior railcar cleaning services, including those requiring advanced cleaning techniques with vapour control. 

We are permitted to clean with a variety of methods and products, including: 

• detergent wash 
• caustic/chemical wash 
• kosher certification wash 
• sanitizer (hot water or chemical) 
• steaming 
• purging 

We have a proven method and process to reduce or eliminate high hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) ppm levels in railcars, making them safe to transload or discharge. 

Customers use our Houston and New Orleans facilities and expertise to handle railcars when H₂S levels are above 5 ppm as it is highly toxic and flammable. Our teams are highly trained and we have bespoke procedures and controls in place to reduce H₂S to an acceptable level of < 5 ppm so they can be safely transloaded or discharged.  

Our specialised racks at our Houston and New Orleans terminals can meet a variety of intermodal transloading requirements. The rack is also equipped with a dedicated flare for hazardous hydrocarbons (if required), and nitrogen to assist in pressing of the product.

We specialise in: 

• railcar to railcar 
• railcar to tank trucks, ISO containers or visa-versa 
• tank truck to ISO, or visa-versa