Tank storage company Vopak of Rotterdam and an investment fund run by NIBC are selling a combined 90% of the shares of Vopak Terminal Eemshaven in the northern Dutch port of Eemshaven.

The buyer is identified as Whitehelm Capital, an Australian-based investment fund, which specialises in infrastructure, the Financieele Dagblad said on Friday.

Vopak said the move fits in with its strategy of focusing on industrial terminals which serve as the hub for international energy movements.

The Eemshaven terminal, which consists of 11 storage tanks, is used to house strategic reserves of petroleum products such as diesel and petrol. These reserves are used in times of calamity or an oil boycott, like that in the 1970s.

Vopak and NIBC each put up 50% of the costs for the terminal when it was built in 2011. NIBC is selling all its shares to Whitehelm, Vopak is retaining a 10% shareholding.

The terminal will continue to be managed by Vopak and retain its name. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, although Vopak will include the book profit in its third-quarter earnings figures.