ROTTERDAM, 01/07/06 - Tank storage company Vopak plans to start building a second oil terminal at the port of Amsterdam in mid-2007. This will mainly store petrol, to be distributed to the US and later, also Asia.

Vopak has submitted a proposal to Noord-Holland province. It is targeting storage capacity of 720,000 cubic metres. Vopak's existing terminal at the Amsterdam port has capacity of 85,000 cubic metres. Financial details of the plans were not disclosed Friday.

Amsterdam has reacted with delight to the plans. "A new oil terminal raises our international position as petrol port," according to a spokesman for the capital's port authority. He believes total transhipments will rise from 20 to 30 million tonnes a year.

Vopak had already begun expanding its storage capacity at the port of Rotterdam at the beginning of the year. Analysts attribute the expansions to Vopak's goal of winning a bigger market share in oil storage.