That terminal, initially a joint venture of ECT and P&O Nedlloyd, will be now fully owned by ECT. Since the takeover of P&O Nedlloyd by Maersk, protracted discussions have taken place between ECT, APM and the Port Authority over an exchange between Euromax and the existing APM terminal.

ECT would then get the use of the whole Delta peninsula, while APM would obtain sufficient capacity with Euromax that could be further expanded. In the end there were too many objections to this solution, if only because so much has been spent already on an automated terminal geared to ECT’s needs.

APM has now acquired what is called Terminal 2 in the design for Maasvlakte 2. Via an internal track, it will be linked to the APM site on the Delta peninsula. The new terminal will have a capacity of 4.5 million TEUs.

“Part of the agreement is a volume guarantee for the coming decades”, Port Authority Chief Executive Officer Hans Smits said.

Maersk Line expects to grow in Rotterdam to such an extent that the existing terminal of APM will have reached full capacity before the new one can handle the first container in 2013 or 2014.

“The capacity of the existing terminal can be stretched to about 2.5 million TEUs,” says APM Terminals vice-president John Verschelden. That is a volume that the company already expects to be handling by 2010. "We have told the Port Authority that we will then face a problem,” Mr Verschelden says.

Not APM but primarily Maersk Line will have the responsibility of bridging the gap between 2010 and 2014.

"The company will investigate other possibilities,” says Mr Verschelden. “In Rotterdam at ECT, because that is the only alternative, but if that doesn’t work, in other ports.”

He doesn’t rule out the possibility that Rotterdam will temporarily lose freight, for instance to APM’s facilities in Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Bremerhaven or Le Havre. To prevent that as much as possible, the Port Authority is also making every effort to create extra container capacity.

For smaller vessels, even the narrow strip on the south side of the Mississippi Dock (opposite the EMO – “Europees Massagoed-Overslagbedrijf” dry bulk terminal) is an option, Mr Smits says. That location is currently being investigated.

The allocation of land for Terminal 2 to APM is not in accordance with the open tender that the Port Authority had invited for Maasvlakte 2. Mr Smits said an exception had been made because of the special situation that was created by the sale of P&O Nedlloyd to Maersk.

The 13 remaining parties who tendered for the right to develop Terminal 2 have to present their definitive proposals this month. The Port Authority hopes to make a decision before the end of this year on who will compete with ECT and APM in the port of Rotterdam.

Source: Press Release

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Europe  Maersk  Port of Rotterdam  ports