13 June 2007 02:00

Rotterdam - the Netherlands / Brazil, 13 June 2007

Royal Vopak announces it has reached an agreement with the Puma Group to acquire a recently built terminal in Suape (Recife), one of the fastest growing ports of Brazil. Assuming that the conditions precedent to the closing of the transaction are fulfilled shortly, Vopak and Puma seek to conclude the transaction by August 1st 2007. This will allow Vopak to strengthen its market position through additional storage capacity in clean petroleum products and the growing ethanol business.

The new terminal in Suape currently consists of 10 tanks with a total capacity of 83,000 cbm. If required, the total area of 3.3 hectares can be utilised to expand the terminal’s capacity up to a little over 100,000 cbm. The facility serves petroleum products and ethanol exports.

Suape, situated in the fast developing Brazilian North East, is becoming more and more important for import of clean petroleum products and ethanol exports. There are also future plans for a new refinery in Suape which will stimulate further development of the local chemical industry. The acquisition by Vopak of the terminal in Suape will enlarge the current network in Brazil and therefore in Vopak Latin America, while at the same time enhancing Vopak´s strategic position in a new market.

Profile Vopak

Royal Vopak (head-quartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands) is the world’s largest independent tank terminal operator specialising 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 75 terminals with a storage capacity of more than 21 million cbm in 30 countries, of which 837,400 cbm in 13 terminals in 7 countries by the Vopak Latin America division. 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.