Cosco Shipping Ports and Qingdao Port International Development (Hong Kong) have purchased minority stake in a joint venture led by APM Terminals (APMT) that will operate facilities in Vado, northwest Italy.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Cosco and Qingdao PID will own respective shares of 40% and 9.9%, while APMT will have a 50.1% holding in the JV, which will operate Vado’s reefer terminal, the Mediterranean’s largest refrigerated cargo facility; and the new 800,000-teu capacity deep-water container terminal currently under construction at the port.
Once operational in 2018, the semi-automated APM Terminals Vado will be able to accommodate ultra-large containerships of up to 19,000 teu.
“Through global partnerships and shared goals of operational excellence, there is much we can achieve together, even in the current difficult business environment,” said AMPT’s current CEO Kim Fejfer, who will be succeeded by Morten Engelstoft on November 1. Both attended the contract signing ceremony in Shanghai.
Cosco’s 40% stake in the Vado terminals continues the operator’s interest in ports around the Mediterranean Region, in which the congomerate has been expanding its operations as part of China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative.
Cosco is already a shareholder in AMPT-operated facilities, such as Egypt’s Suez Canal Container Terminal; APM Terminals Zeebrugge in Belgium; and Qingdao Qianwan Container Terminal (QQCT) in China.
