Oiltanking acquires Finland oil storage business from Vopak Terminals

German oil storage company Oiltanking GmbH has announced the acquisition of Vopak's Finnish oil terminals business Vopak Chemicals Logistics Finland Oy.

The acquisition includes two terminals for the storage and handling of bulk chemicals and petroleum products. This transaction will more than triple Oiltanking’s capacity in Finland.

The two terminals with a combined capacity of 175,400 m³ are located in Kotka and Hamina, at the South East coast of Finland at the Baltic Sea. Oiltanking already owns and operates a terminal in this area under the name Oiltanking Sonmarin Oy, with a total storage capacity of 81,700 m³.

After the acquisition, the terminals of both companies will be consolidated into one company under the name of Oiltanking Finland Oy.

According to sources Oiltanking has paid Vopak €43 million (US$47.2 million) for its oil terminals business.

Finland is one of the main transit hubs for the export and import of chemical and petroleum products in relation to Russia and the other FSU countries. This transaction will further strengthen the ability of Oiltanking to serve this market segment by combining the existing well equipped storage capacities with the newly acquired tank terminals.

Following this acquisition, the total storage capacity of Oiltanking Finland terminals increases to 257,100 m³ with 75 tanks in various sizes from 500 to 10,000 m³. The terminals in Kotka are connected to two jetties (10.0 and 13.5 m draft) in Kotka and two others (9.0 and 10.0 m draft) in Hamina. All products can be received and loaded out by sea, tank containers, railtank cars and trucks.

Oiltanking GmbH is a subsidiary of Marquard & Bahls, a Hamburg-based family-owned company that operates in the fields of energy supply, trading and logistics. Oiltanking is the second largest independent tank storage provider for petroleum products, chemicals and gases worldwide. The company owns and operates 73 terminals in 22 countries within Europe, North and South America, Middle East, Africa, India as well as in Asia. Oiltanking has an overall storage capacity of 19.4 million m³.

Last month we reported that SL Capital Partners acquired the shares of the Gasum Oy subsidiaries Gasum Paikallisjakelu Oy and Helsingin Kaupunkikaasu Oy from Gasum. Gasum Paikallisjakelu Oy is in charge of local gas network operations in twelve areas in Finland, and Helsingin Kaupunkikaasu owns the Helsinki natural gas network.