Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 18 November 2009
Royal Vopak (Vopak) announces that it has reached agreement with Fluvia Holding BV (Fluvia) and North Sea Petroleum Holding BV (NSPH) on the sale of its terminal in Basle, Switzerland to Fluvia and NSPH. The terminal in Basle, which currently operates under the name Vopak Terminal Basle, has 62 tanks offering storage capacity of 345,600 cubic meters (cbm) and was 100% owned by Vopak. This river based inland terminal in Basle has a limited strategic fit with Vopak's global network strategy focused on owning and operating marine based tank storage terminals in key locations with deep water access facilities.
The transaction of Vopak Terminal Basle will be in the form of an acquisition of all of Vopak’s shares in Vopak Schweiz AG by Fluvia and NSPH. As from today the activities by this Swiss terminal will be continued by the new owners under the name Rhytank.
Acquiring Vopak Terminal Basle will allow Fluvia, an operator for the inland tanker shipping and storage of edible and mineral oils and chemical products, and NSPH, a logistics services provider with trading and sales activities in the downstream oil market, to expand their activities and further strengthen their position in Switzerland, which has been defined as one of their key (growth) markets. Fluvia and NSPH are both established in the Netherlands.
This sale has resulted from a consolidated EBIT perspective in a limited book profit, which will be accounted for as an exceptional gain.
Profile Vopak
Royal Vopak is the world’s largest independent tank terminal operator specializing in the storage and handling of liquid and gaseous chemical and oil products. On request, Vopak can provide complementary logistics services for customers at its terminals. Vopak operates 79 terminals with a storage capacity of 27.7 million cbm in 31 countries. The terminals are strategically located for users and the major shipping routes. The majority of its customers are companies operating in the chemical and oil industries, for which Vopak stores a large variety of products destined for a wide range of industries.