Bitumen trading firm Rubis Asphalt will receive its first cargo to the 60,000t capacity ATPC bitumen terminal in Antwerp on 4 January after its takeover of supply, storage and throughput operations at the key northwest European facility on 1 January.
The firm agreed in October a five-year deal with Dutch owners of the terminal, VTTI, to operate the terminal, with an option to extend the deal by another five years. That followed the decision by international oil trading firm Vitol not to renew its deal with VTTI — in which it has a 45pc stake — which expired at the end of 2025. The firm had used the facility for several years, making it a key bitumen truck supplier to Benelux customers, and to France and Germany.
The 21,500dwt Baltic Narval, owned and operated by French construction firm Colas' trading unit Continental Bitumen, is moving the first cargo into Antwerp for Rubis after loading it at Tupras' Izmit refinery in Turkey.
Rubis has already separately agreed a Contract of Affreightment (CoA) deal with Trafigura, according to officials familiar with the matter, to use — under Trafigura's option — the 36,819dwt Star River or the 37,000dwt The Judge, both operated by Trafigura, to make regular deliveries into Antwerp.
The operations of Rubis Asphalt, a unit of French terminals firm Rubis, have so far been largely concentrated in west Africa, where it runs a 30,000t capacity regional terminal hub at Lome, Togo, and owns and operates the 45,974dwt Bitu Express and 45,986dwt Bitu Atlantic, two of the world's largest bitumen tankers, which regularly make large cargo shipments from eastern Mediterranean supply points to Lome.
Rubis also operates several smaller bitumen tankers that take lightered cargoes in ship-to-ship and other operations from the Lome area to Nigerian import terminals, including those at Port Harcourt and Sapele run by local firm Ringardas, which was purchased by Rubis in 2015 alongside its acquisition of Belgian bitumen supply firm and longstanding west African supplier Eres.
Rubis Asphalt is also a key bitumen cargo supplier into Senegal, Angola and South Africa. The ATPC deal now also gives it a strong supply position in northwest Europe.
