A terminal is the end of a line. A fuel terminal is where a long-distance pipeline or a barge ends, and the fuel it carries is stored and handed off to trucks.
The terminal is where wholesale fuel enters a local area. Pipelines and barges fill its large storage tanks, and trucks load out of it, at the rack, to carry fuel the last miles to stations and customers.
Think of it as the handoff between two systems: the long-haul network of pipelines and barges that moves fuel across the country, and the trucks that deliver it locally.
In usePipeline fuel arrives at the terminal, sits in its storage tanks, and leaves one truckload at a time from the rack.
Where the word comes from
Terminal comes from a Latin word for an end or boundary. The fuel terminal got the name as the end of the pipeline, the point where the long-haul journey stops and local delivery begins.
See also Rack, Bulk plant