ESV Group plc, the logistics, trading and biofuel farming company, has signed a sixty year lease agreement with The Port Authority of Zeeland Seaports and Exploitatiemaatschappij Schelde Maas Beheer BV on 98,000 square metres of land in the port area of Terneuzen to be used as a biofuel storage and logistics facility.

Locally known as the Axel Plain, the lease allows for:  the Zeeland Sea Ports Authority development of a 200 metre quay for vessels of maximum length of 180 metres and maximum draft of 11.5 metres; a separate jetty for tanker barges and coasters; storage and logistic facilities for a minimum of 600,000 metric tons throughput of vegetable oil, ethanol and clean minerals per year with an overall storage capacity of 176,000 cubic metres for vegetable oils, ethanol and clean minerals per year.

Additionally, ESV will have a first right of refusal on an initial 30,000 square metre plot of land adjacent to the Axel Plain.

The company expects the facility to be operational by mid 2009.

Commenting on the agreement Masoud Alikhani, Chairman of ESV, said: “We are delighted to have concluded this agreement – there being a scarcity or prime port development opportunities in the area. Terneuzen is strategically excellently positioned to provide a central hub for supplying the European biofuel market.

"The facility will not only provide the Northern European access point for shipping in vegetable oil from our own production projects but also for other biofuel suppliers both within and outside of Europe. To this end, I am pleased to also report that negotiations have already begun with major organisations for usage of the facility once completed.”