COSCO Shipping Ports and Qingdao Port International Development have become partners with APM Terminals to operate new and existing container terminals in Vado, Italy, announces APMT’s press release.

According to the concluded agreements, APMT will have a 50.1% share in a new joint venture created for the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network’s operations in Vado, COSCO Shipping Ports (China) will have a 40% share and Qingdao Port International Development (Hong Kong) Co., Limited a 9.9% share.

The agreements include interests in both the existing Reefer Terminal in Vado, the largest refrigerated cargo facility on the Mediterranean Sea, and the new 800,000 TEU capacity deep-water terminal currently under construction at the Port of Vado, which will be both operated by APM Terminals.

The signing ceremony with COSCO Shipping Ports in Shanghai was attended by current APM Terminals CEO Kim Fejfer, as well as Mr. Morten Engelstoft, who will succeed Mr. Fejfer as CEO on November 1st.

COSCO Shipping Ports is a subsidiary of COSCO Shipping Group which assumed control over the Greek Port of Piraeus earlier this year. The company has been expanding its operations in the Mediterranean Region as part of the “One Belt One Road” initiative to strengthen logistics links between China and Europe. COSCO is already a shareholder in several operations within the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network, such as the Suez Canal Container Terminal (Egypt), APM Terminals Zeebrugge (Belgium) and Qingdao Qianwan Container Terminal (QQCT, China).

APM Terminals and the Qingdao Port Group, which has also been expanding its global presence, have existing joint venture relationships with shared investments in QQCT and four other container terminals in Qingdao, and most recently, Qingdao Port Dongjiakou Multi-Purpose Terminal. Qingdao Port is the fifth-largest container port on the Chinese Mainland, and the 8th-largest world-wide, with 17.4 million TEUs handled in 2015.

The Port of Vado is located in north-western Italy in the region of Savona on the Ligurian Coast, near Genoa, Italy’s busiest container import/export port, with a throughput of 2.24 million TEUs in 2015. The expansion of Vado’s facilities is part of the port’s master plan to create new and improved supply chain capabilities for markets in Northern Italy, Switzerland and Southern Germany.

APM Terminals Vado will be a new semi-automated container terminal scheduled to become operational in 2018, with the unique ability to accommodate Ultra-Large Container Ships (ULCS) of up to 19,000 TEU capacity without any physical restrictions among North Italian ports. In August 2015, APM Terminals purchased the existing Vado Ligure Reefer Terminal, which has an annual capacity of 275,000 TEUs and more than half a million tons of refrigerated fruit. Operations at the Reefer Terminal will be merged upon completion with the adjacent APM Terminals Vado container terminal.