The facilities to be installed include storage tanks, barge and trailer trucks; and these are targetted for completion and acquisition by April.

The company is expecting that the rollout period for the 1.0 percent (B1) blend of coco methyl ester (CME) to diesel products in the pumps will happen as prescribed under the Biofuels Act within three months from the law’s effectivity.

Should the timeframe be followed to the letter, the CME supplier firm is anticipating that this mandate will start by April; thus, it is now taking fullblown preparations for it.

"We already built (our) continuous process biodiesel plant with enough capacity for the mandated blending and there is now a need for storage, logistics and cash flow to operate at this capacity and scale," said ChemrezTech chief operating officer Dean Lao, Jr. said.

By now, the company said it already spent P44 million to construct the storage facility with 3 million liters capacity of coconut oil as feedstock.

This is supplemented by storage capacity of 2 million liters for finished product - BioActiv; the purposely-built 1.5 million liter barge to facilitate transport BioActiv to oil companies’ terminals; and dedicated tank trailers.

Lao further disclosed that Chemrez’s subsidiary Malay Resources Inc. also expended P138 million for more berthing facilities, barges and tanks dedicated for storage of BioActiv coco-biodiesel in its San Juan operations along the Pasig River.

To ensure sustained coconut feedstock supply, the company noted that it firmed up a deal with coconut oil millers and refiners to service the plant’s requirement of 4,500-5,500 tons per month, including the logistics to transport this volume to the Chemrez biodiesel plant in Libis.

"Our commitment is to ensure the Biofuel Law’s mandate for a 1 percent blend of coco-biodiesel can be implemented today by providing a quality product reliably and consistently to all our customers including the oil companies," Lao stressed.

Overall, he noted that his company already rolled P509 million in working capital which was raised partly from its initial public offering (IPO) last year.

As the implementation period nears, he called on the oil companies to exercise due diligence in sourcing only from reputable producers who can reliably produce Philippine National Standard-compliant products as the law promises to punish offenders. (MMV)