APM Terminals and Petkim announce strategic port development in the Izmir region of Turkey

Izmir, Turkey and The Hague, Netherlands - Executives from Petkim Petrokimya Holding A.Ş. (Petkim), Petlim Limancılık A.Ş. (“Petlim”) which is 100% owned by Petkim and APM Terminals signed a Heads of Terms agreement which outlines key terms of a definitive agreement to be negotiated and signed between Petkim, Petlim and a to be incorporated Turkish affiliate of APM Terminals for the long-term operation of Petkim Port, located in Aliağa, near the city of Izmir on the Aegean Coast of Turkey.

The contract negotiations are still ongoing and further developments will be made public upon completion.

Welcome APM Terminals and their vast expertise in global terminal operations

SOCAR President Rövnag Abdullayev said “We announced our vision for the Petkim peninsula as a Refinery-Petrochemicals-Energy-Logistics integration. A historic groundbreaking ceremony for the STAR refinery was held on 25 October 2011. We continue our investment projects to produce new petrochemical products and high value-added products within Petkim. In order to meet the growing future needs of refinery and our other investments, we keep going on our power production projects. Thereby we will mostly have finished our vertical integration in Petkim Peninsula by 2015. We have taken strategic steps to execute our vision for Petkim Port as Turkey’s best logistics center in the Aegean region. Another world leading company has joined us in the Turkish market. We welcome APM Terminals and their vast expertise in global terminal operations”.

Turkey is a very important growing market

CEO of APM Terminals, Kim Fejfer, stated “Turkey is a very important high growth market which we are very pleased to enter together with SOCAR, a strong and well respected business partner. We look forward to establishing a long term presence in Turkey and are very happy with this first development.”

APM Terminals’ CEO Europe Region, Martin Poulsen, added: “Petkim’s Port’s location, its market access and natural deep water are a winning combination that will redefine Turkish ports. We are excited to partner with Petkim and tap their national scale and success to make Petkim Port a strong economic growth engine for the country and the regional economy”.

Nemrut Bay: The logistic center for Aegean and Mediterranean markets

SOCAR Turkey President (CEO) and Petkim Board Member Kenan Yavuz said “Turkey’s port capacity is unfortunately not enough to keep pace with growing demand in one of the fastest developing economies in the world. The development of Petkim Port will provide the much needed capacity to the Aegean Region and to Turkey, attracting more foreign trade. We established Petkim Limancılık A.Ş. to improve Petkim Port and make it the largest integrated port in Turkey serving the petrochemical, container and general cargo sectors as described in our vision for the Petkim Peninsula as Refinery-Petrochemical-Energy-Logistic Integration. We plan to make Aliağa, Turkey’s most strategic industrial area, the largest integrated logistics center in Turkey, through port investments in Petkim Port and in other ports. Nemrut Bay is one of the largest logistic centers in Turkey and has the capacity and water depth for the world’s largest containers ships. Geographically, Nemrut Bay has a strong position to serve Aegean and Mediterranean industries. We plan to make Petkim Port, along with Alsancak Port, the largest integrated port and logistics center in the region and one of the world’s leading logistic centers.”