S-OIL opens the first marina service station in Korea

● S-OIL opens Ara Marina Service Station at Gyeongin Ara Waterway Gimpo Terminal.
    - The service station will fuel oil directly to ships safely and conveniently, which will contribute to vitalizing marine sports using yachts and boats.

S-OIL (CEO: Nasser Al-Mahasher) opened a marina service station dedicated to yachts for the first time in Korea.

S-OIL said that Ara Marina Service Station, the first of its kind in Korea, which will be patronized mainly by leisure ships including yachts and motorboats, is to start its business early next month at Gyeongin Ara Waterway Gimpo Terminal in Gochon-eup, Gimpo City, Gyeonggi Province. This service station will be supplied with fuel by S-OIL and operated by Waterway Plus, the subsidiary of Korea Water Resources Corporation.  

Ara Mariana Service Station is equipped with facilities not only for customers using the marina, including 150 yachts and motorboats, etc., but also for small-size pleasure cruisers that cruise along the Ara Waterway and lie at anchor to get fueled safely and conveniently. This is expected to resolve the big inconvenience of buying fuel (gasoline and diesel) at an ordinary service station and putting it in fuel tanks or calling a tank lorry to refuel, thereby contributing to vitalizing marine sports.

“As the marine leisure industry has risen in popularity, about ten marina service stations are expected to be built nationwide,” said an S-OIL official. “Based on this experience of operating the first marina service station in Korea, we plan to prepare for an increase in the number of service stations dedicated to yachts ahead of others.”

Marine sports using yachts and motorboats, etc. are gaining popularity in Korea, with the number of registered yachts surging from two in 2006 to 4,000 or so at the end of March this year, with 15 marinas running nationwide. Thus, demand for infrastructures related to this trend is projected to grow.