VTTI expands its Rotterdam terminal

Independent terminal operator Vitol Tank Terminals International (VTTI) has acquired additional facilities for its Rotterdam Europort terminal, Euro Tank Terminal (ETT).

It has purchased neighbouring land from EVET BV, an affiliated company of the De Rijke Group.

The purchase gives the Rotterdam terminal access to rail and truck loading facilities, the capability to store low flash products, as well as barge jetties and warehouse capacity.

"When we announced last week our new partnership with MISC Berhad (MISC) of Malaysia, we described it as allowing us to grow our terminal business even faster, in key trading locations," said Rob Nijst, CEO of VTTI.

"There is no better example of this growth than the plans that we have at Rotterdam, a key part of which is this acquisition today.

"Our ambition is to grow the Rotterdam terminal to over 1 million cubic metres (cm³) of storage, with state of the art facilities, that provide customers with what they want, to the highest safety and environmental standards."

Malaysian shipping line MISC acquired 50% of VTTI shares on May 17 for a price of $735 million and has entered into a shareholders agreement with VTTI for strategic cooperation between the two companies.

VTTI owns and operates a network of petroleum products terminals with a current gross combined capacity of nearly 6 million cm³ and aims to expand to more than 7 million cm³ by 2013.