The construction of the new APMT container terminal on the Second Maasvlakte has been awarded to a Dutch consortium of GMB, Dura Vermeer and Imtech. The order, worth about €100 million, covers the laying of surfacing, cables, pipes, craneways and rail connections. Work will begin next week and should be completed in April 2014, with the terminal being operational at the end of 2014. The annual capacity will be 2.7 million TEU, the Port of Rotterdam reports.
Half a billion
Total investments for the terminal amount to around half a billion euros. In addition to the quarter for infrastructure, some 40% of the total investment will go on large equipment such as cranes and automated vehicles which move the containers between the quay and the storage area.
Half a billion
Total investments for the terminal amount to around half a billion euros. In addition to the quarter for infrastructure, some 40% of the total investment will go on large equipment such as cranes and automated vehicles which move the containers between the quay and the storage area.
The terminal will be able to welcome the latest generation of container ships. Maersk, the biggest container shipping line in the world and sister of APMT, will put the first of twenty ships with a capacity of 18,000 TEU into operation next year. This is, again, 3000 units more than today’s biggest ships transport. The size of ships calls for extra-large cranes along the quay. APMT expects to be selecting the supplier within two months.
Towards 4.5 million TEU
APMT’s terminal on Maasvlakte 2 will cover an area of 180 hectares with the possibility of expanding to a capacity of 4.5 million TEU. The terminal will be built in phases. The first allocation of land is for 86 hectares. The terminal will have 2,800 metres of deepsea quay, 1,000 metres of which will be completed in the first phase. The quay wall will have a depth of 20 metres. A 500 metre long quay for inland vessels and feeders will also be built, with a depth in excess of 10 metres. There will be a direct rail connection with the Betuwe Route.
Second terminals
APMT already has a terminal on the existing Maasvlakte and will continue to use this alongside the new one.
In addition to APMT, the Port of Rotterdam Authority has granted a container terminal on the Second Maasvlakte to the consortium of DP World and four large container shipping companies, under the name Rotterdam World Gateway.
Considering that Russia possesses a great resource potential of conventional natural gas, production of which is considerably cheaper than unconventional gas even in severe natural, climatic and geological conditions, conventional natural gas will remain the basis for reliable gas supply to Russian consumers and export deliveries. Therefore it is supposed to consider unconventional gas as a source of supplying gas to future generations.
The Board of Directors highlighted the importance of further activities aimed at creating and developing the technologies of prospecting, exploration and development of unconventional gas fields, as well as methods to evaluate the feasibility of such projects.
The Board of Directors also addressed preliminary results of the program for awarding Gazprom's management with the Company's shares and on the ways of improving this activity.