Vopak has seen EBITDA increase by €71 million to €625 million in its YTD Q3 results. The company also reported an occupancy rate of 84% (YTD Q3 2018: 86%) reflecting planned temporary conversion activities related to IMO2020 readiness and ongoing market conditions at oil hub terminals, whereas other market segments remained solid.
Looking ahead
Vopak will continue to invest in the growth of its global terminal portfolio in 2020 and beyond with growth investment for 2020 that could be in the range of €300 million to €500 million, subject to developments in the business environment.
On 9 October 2019, Vopak announced that it acquired, from the minority shareholder in Vopak Terminal Algeciras, the remaining 20% of the shares of the terminal. Vopak has an agreement with First State Investments for the sale of 100% of the shares in Vopak Terminal Algeciras. The completion of this transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.
The total transaction value of the terminals in Amsterdam, Hamburg and Algeciras is €723 million. After the completion of the divestment of Algeciras, the transaction will have generated a net pre-tax cash inflow for Vopak of approximately €670 million and a total expected exceptional gain before taxation of around €200 million.
On 4 November 2019, Vopak announced that it will expand Vopak Terminal Linkeroever in the Port of Antwerp in Belgium with 50,000 cbm for chemical products. The Port of Antwerp is one of the main industrial clusters in Western Europe. The additional storage capacity is expected to be commissioned mid 2021.
It also announced that it will expand Vopak Terminal Altamira in Mexico with 40,000 cbm for chemical products. The expansion will facilitate the growing import of chemical products in Mexico and is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2021.
Vopak has revealed that it will develop a joint venture industrial terminal to provide storage and handling services for the chemical manufacturing plants in the Qinzhou Chemical Park in southwest China, together with its partners Shanghai Huayi Group Investment Co and Guangxi Qinzhou Linhai Industrial Investment Co. This industrial terminal, in which Vopak will hold a 51% share, will have an initial capacity of 290,000 cbm and is expected to be commissioned mid 2021.
Growth projects
In September 2019, the fourth LNG import terminal was added to the Vopak LNG portfolio by the acquisition of SPEC in Cartagena, Colombia.
Meanwhile, the greenfield terminal Vopak Terminal Panama Atlantic commissioned an additional 80,000 cbm of capacity bringing the total capacity to 200,000 cbm.
At the end of September 2019, Pengerang Independent Terminals (PITSB) in Malaysia commissioned 215,000 cbm of capacity.
On 30 September 2019, Vopak completed the earlier announced divestment of its terminals in Amsterdam and Hamburg. The total recognised exceptional gain after taxation was €192.0 million.
For more information visit www.vopak.com
