Oktober 2016

Today the tank farm is derelict and overgrown with plants and trees. Probably the majority of the hikers hardly recognize this storage facility, if at all. The construction department of the Canton of Zurich has entered the site in their registry of polluted areas. The authorities, Migrol, Carbura (Swiss organisation for the compulsory stockpiling of oil products), as well as the private owner of the land are currently discussing the disposal of this storage depot and the re-naturalization of the site.

On an area of approximately 26,500 m² there are about 200 tanks buried in the soil, fabricated of steel and concrete with a capacity of about 150 to 600 m³ per tank. Mainly diesel oil was stored, but probably other mineral oil products as well. The tank farm was supplied by truck, sometimes causing traffic jams in nearby hamlet of Tössriedern. For the construction of this storage facility, Migrol took a high technical, but above all also a huge commercial, risk. In October 1969 the police and the fire brigade were called, apparently 20,000 litres of oil had been discharged into the river, but this turned out however to be a grossly exaggerated story. No oil was found in the river, but some oil may have seeped into the ground. The tank farm was already shut down at the beginning of the 70s, as it had become unprofitable. The jetty for the tank vessels was never built. 

Today the tank farm is derelict and overgrown with plants and trees. Probably the majority of the hikers hardly recognize this storage facility, if at all. The construction department of the Canton of Zurich has entered the site in their registry of polluted areas. The authorities, Migrol, Carbura (Swiss organisation for the compulsory stockpiling of oil products), as well as the private owner of the land are currently discussing the disposal of this storage depot and the re-naturalization of the site.

The small road on the far right leads from Tössriedern to Tössegg - about a half an hour walk

Approaching the forest

The first little shed comes in sight, to the left flows the Rhine

An access house to the tanks below the ground

Nicely hidden in the woods and hardly visible

A tank cover, note also the relatively young and thin trees

After another 300 m we reach a sort of a garage or store

To the right of the car a path leads down to a parallel road along the bank of the Rhine

Besides the garage a fountain bears the inscription MIGROL

The MIGROL-fountain and a manhole to a tank

The small road along the river bank and the wall of the tank farm

The corner of the fuel depot

A warning sign implies that the plant was constructed by 1959

Probably at this point the pipe lines from the ship's jetty would have arrived

A close-up showing the pipe lines

The tanker jetty would have been located below on the banks of the river

To the left, the river tankers would have discharged their cargoes

Shortly before the Tössegg, a look down river

The mouth of the Töss, as seen from the Töss bridge. Here you can also find a pleasant restaurant "Tössegg" for a rest as well as a boat station. The two companies www.schiffswirth.ch and www.szr.ch offer pleasure cruises on the Rhine

April 2020

The tank farm was demolished and the site re-naturalized in 2018. Any polluted soil was removed to avoid any possible damages to the environment. Today, in spring 2020, nothing reminds us of the old fuel depot, except perhaps the old MIGROL-fountain at the road-side.

Below this meadow was the old tank farm, viewed up river towards Tössegg

The MIGROL-fountain has received a clean-up and probably will remain

View from the small road along the river embankment, viewed in direction Tössegg

View down river in the direction of Eglisau

The mouth of the river Töss, viewed from same point on the Töss bridge. Note the change of the sand banks in only four years

SwissShips, HPS, April 2020 / Translated by NB and uploaded in June 2020 by MB