This is what founder and managing director J.N.A. Caldenborgh told this newspaper in São Paulo on Tuesday. He is in Brazil this week to explore the market. The tanks will be ready at the end of 2008, cost € 20 million and have a capacity of 120,000 m3. “That’s a lot in the ethanol sector”, says Caldenborgh.
The plans fit in very well with the port of Rotterdam’s ambition to become an important player when it comes to the import and transit trade in ethanol. The European Union has agreed to mix 5.75% ethanol in petrol from 2010. “The EU will have to import a substantial proportion of the ethanol”, says Caldenborgh to explain the investment. “In Europe, we don’t have enough agricultural land to produce sufficient ethanol at competitive prices. Brazil, on the other hand, has massive potential.”
Recently, the Port Authority, Caldic and a Spanish firm signed a contract for the construction of an ethanol plant on Caldic land. “We didn’t need to do very much”, says Caldenborgh. “Dealers, producers and buyers of ethanol are keen to get together. They found us.” The entrepreneur, who founded Caldic in 1970 and built it into a company with a turnover of € 500 million, expects the ethanol plant and the storage capacity to attract a lot of extra commercial activity.
Brazil, with its 3.5 billion litres in 2006, is the world’s largest exporter of ethanol. Its exports are set to treble to 11 billion litres. Last year, Rotterdam imported less ethanol, in connection with the sharp rise in demand from the United States. But imports are set to rise again this year, as the Americans have started producing much more ethanol themselves.
The plans fit in very well with the port of Rotterdam’s ambition to become an important player when it comes to the import and transit trade in ethanol. The European Union has agreed to mix 5.75% ethanol in petrol from 2010. “The EU will have to import a substantial proportion of the ethanol”, says Caldenborgh to explain the investment. “In Europe, we don’t have enough agricultural land to produce sufficient ethanol at competitive prices. Brazil, on the other hand, has massive potential.”
Recently, the Port Authority, Caldic and a Spanish firm signed a contract for the construction of an ethanol plant on Caldic land. “We didn’t need to do very much”, says Caldenborgh. “Dealers, producers and buyers of ethanol are keen to get together. They found us.” The entrepreneur, who founded Caldic in 1970 and built it into a company with a turnover of € 500 million, expects the ethanol plant and the storage capacity to attract a lot of extra commercial activity.
Brazil, with its 3.5 billion litres in 2006, is the world’s largest exporter of ethanol. Its exports are set to treble to 11 billion litres. Last year, Rotterdam imported less ethanol, in connection with the sharp rise in demand from the United States. But imports are set to rise again this year, as the Americans have started producing much more ethanol themselves.