Royal Vopak has obtained all regulatory approvals and finalized registrations for the Equity Transfer Agreement with Xianglu Petrochemical (Zhangzhou) Co Ltd in Fujian province, China, as announced on March 10, 2014. The agreement comprises Vopak’s acquisition of a 30% equity interest in Zhangzhou Gulei Haiteng Jetty Investment Management Company Limited.
Vopak Terminal Haiteng comprises an industrial terminal, commissioned in 2013, consisting of 890,000 cbm (235,113,126 gallon) storage capacity for petrochemical products. Long-term contracts have been signed for this industrial terminal to serve two petrochemical plants via pipelines. Due to the limited remaining period in 2014 and some pre-operating expenses, the joint venture entity will marginally contribute to Vopak’s 2014 results as from September 28, 2014.
As part of the agreement, the terminal will be operated according to the Vopak safety, technical, and operational standards. For Xianglu, the partnership further strengthens the reliability and efficiency of the industrial terminal, while for Vopak, this partnership will further expand its regional market position, fully in line with its strategy in China. With this acquisition, the Vopak Asia terminal network increases from 8.5 million cbm to 9.3 million cbm. It further strengthens Vopak’s industrial terminal network, fully in line with the recently defined terminal portfolio criteria.
Haiteng is situated in Gulei Industrial Park, in the southeast of China, ranking as one of the top natural deep draft ports in the country. Supported by the central government and the Fujian province, Gulei Industrial Park has ambitious plans to attract additional petrochemical industry in the coming years.