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2008 August 26   10:40

Cosco Pacific, "K'' Line, Hanjin Shipping and Yang Ming to invest in Rotterdam terminal

Cosco Pacific will take a stake in Rotterdam port, Europe's biggest cargo hub, in the second half of the year, according to the South China Morning Post.
Cosco Pacific and three shipping lines - "K'' Line, Hanjin Shipping and Yang Ming - will invest 12.5 per cent each in the new Euromax terminal, located in Rotterdam's Maasvlakte area by the end of this year. No financial details were disclosed.
Another company, Europe Container Terminals, will take a 51 per cent stake in Euromax, which is scheduled to open on September 5.
Following Port Piraeus in Greece, Euromax will be the fifth overseas investment by Cosco Pacific.
Euromax will have four berths and a capacity of 2.3 million TEUs per year.
Since Rotterdam is one of the busiest ports in the world, investors in Euromax expect to eventually expand the capacity to six million TEUs.
The world's fifth-biggest port operator yesterday said net profit increased 3.3 per cent to US$153 million in the six months to June. Stripping out one-off gains of $10.6 million last year, underlying profit increased 11 per cent.
"We would like to invest overseas more because international port projects only account for 11 per cent of our profit from ports" said Cosco Pacific deputy managing director Ken Chan.
The other 89 per cent of port earnings is generated from hubs in the mainland, where investment opportunities are declining.
A 22 per cent rise in throughput helped port operations generate $74.2 million in profit for the firm, up 20 per cent from a year earlier.
More than half of the profit growth came from ports in Singapore, Antwerp and the Suez Canal. The 18 ports, in which the company has holdings, handled 22 million TEUs in the first half.
Separately, the firm said it was in talks with several mainland port operators about investing in them.
"We are very interested in Ningbo Port Group," said Xu Minjie, a vice-chairman of Cosco Pacific.
Ningbo Port, which plans to float in Hong Kong, sold a 5.4 per cent stake for $123.68 million to China Merchant Holdings International in March.
Cosco Pacific said its negotiations with another port, Fujian Port Group, would be finalised by the year-end.
Cosco Pacific and Yantian Port Group are reportedly interested in a 30 per cent stake in Fujian Port.
The company has already invested in two other ports in Quanzhou and Xiamen in Fujian.

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