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Port of Rotterdam Authority and APM Terminals have concluded an agreement, under certain conditions to be satisfied, for the lease of a container terminal on Maasvlakte 2. The terminal will amount to a maximum size of 167 hectares with a potential handling capacity of 4.5 million TEU.
The terminal will be built in phases. The first part should be operational at the latest in 2014. CEO Hans Smits of the Port of Rotterdam Authority: “With this deal we have secured the first large customer for Maasvlakte 2. An important condition for the construction of Maasvlakte 2 has been fulfilled. At the same time we ensure that APM Terminals and Maersk Line will be able to grow in Rotterdam, also for the long term, which will benefit the competitive position of the port. I am therefore very pleased with this agreement.” APM Terminals forms part of the Danish AP Møller - Maersk Group. Maersk Line, a sister company of APM Terminals, represents the combination of Maersk Sealand and P&O Nedlloyd, with a market share of 18%, is the world’s largest containership line. APM Terminals, is one of the top four largest, independent, global container terminal operator in the world, already operates a container terminal in Rotterdam, that handles predominantly Maersk Line volumes. The situation of APM Terminals and Maersk in Rotterdam is a special one, considering the incorporation of P&O Nedlloyd in Maersk Line as well as the agreements made on the construction of the Euromax terminal. With the signing of this agreement, APM Terminals now secures sufficient long term capacity to keep growing in Rotterdam. And at the same time Maersk Line’s future volumes can be handled in Rotterdam and will not need to be moved to other ports.
The Port of Rotterdam Authority is at present also performing a so-called Open Assessment Procedure for the lease of a container terminal of 138 ha. For this terminal, 14 terminal operators and shipping lines have been selected as pre-qualified candidates. The Port of Rotterdam Authority expects by the end of June 2006 the bids of the candidates. APM Terminals is one of these pre-qualified candidates but will withdraw from the tender procedure as soon as the conditions are satisfied. Hans Smits: “The two leases are separate. The market has a lot of interest to establish terminals on Maasvlakte 2. I therefore expect to be able to finalize the Open Assessment Procedure successfully mid next year. Already a third of Maasvlakte 2 shall at that point of time have been granted.” The planning aims at bringing the Open Assessment Procedure - terminal earlier into operation than the new terminal of APM Terminals.
The new terminal for APM Terminals will be built in phases. The first part is 60 hectares. This may be extended in three phases to a total of 167 hectares, under the condition that an agreed amount of containers will be handled on the terminal. The terminal will have a minimum deep-sea quay wall of 2400 meters with a depth up to 20 meters and a barge quay of 500 meters with a depth of more than 10 meters. The terminal has a width of 600 meters, and a capacity of approximately 4,5 million TEU. A direct connection will be made with the rail tracks of the Betuwe Route. The capacity of the current terminal of APM Terminals in Rotterdam is approximately 2,5 million TEU.
For the new terminal of APM Terminals lease conditions, for instance in relation to sustainability and technique, will be comparable to those of the terminal which will be leased via the Open Assessment Procedure.
Source: Press Release
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