WORK on a £2.5m expansion scheme at a Teesside chemical site is set to begin within the next few weeks.

The construction of 13 huge steel tanks at the Vopak storage terminal at Seal Sands will form part of multi-million pound expansion on the site.

The designs for the new tanks will be transformed into reality by the engineering and operations manger for Vopak on Teesside, Rob Walker.

The massive construction programme will involve more than 400 tonnes of steel sheet, with the tanks holding 12,500 tonnes of chemical products. The steel itself is purchased from Corus, who have a major manufacturing facility just down the road at Redcar.

The move will boost the firm's on-site storage capacity to 238,500 tonnes allowing it to increase its customer base.

Mr Walker said: "Each tank will be built to the very latest safety and environmental legislation standards, making this modern expansion one of the safest storage facilities in the world."

The construction has been contracted out to a small number of companies, with the contract for the assembling the steel tanks awarded to Normanby Industries of Scunthorpe.

Normanby director David Fox said: "Having worked in the North-East on contracts of this nature for some considerable time, Normanby are very pleased and proud to be working with Vopak again on this prestigious new project."

Vopak Terminal Teesside, formerly Tees Storage, is part of the international storage and distribution company Royal Vopak of Holland.

The firm employs around 60 people, storing and handling bulk liquid chemicals for the global chemical industry.

It is linked by pipeline to many local chemical producers on Teesside.

It is the largest chemical storage firm on Teesside and handled and stored three million tonnes of liquid chemicals last year.