A.P. Moller to buy into COSCO Pacific’s Nansha project

A.P. Moller to buy into COSCO Pacific’s Nansha project    Chinese port operator and logistics services company COSCO Pacific Ltd. has agreed to sell 33.9 percent equity interest of its wholly owned subsidiary COSCO Ports (Nansha) Ltd. to Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk Group. No financial details were provided.
   As a result of the transaction, A.P. Moller-Maersk will obtain about 20 percent equity interest of South China Oceangate Terminal Co., a joint venture between COSCO Ports (Nansha) and Guangzhou Port Group Co. Ltd. that is building a second terminal at the Port of Nansha, on the western side of the Pearl River Delta in China.
   Nansha Port Phase II will cost about 4.01 billion yuan ($502 million) and commence operations by the end of 2007. COSCO Pacific said the new facility will have a capacity of up to 4.2 million TEUs, six deepwater berths and a water depth of 14.5 meters (48 feet) that could be dredged to 17 meters (56 feet).
   COSCO Pacific holds a 59-percent equity interest in South China Oceangate Terminal Co. after paying a cash consideration of about $95 million for its share in the registered capital of the joint venture company in December last year.
   “With this well-established relationship, our senior management strongly believes that the competitive edge of business development of the terminal will be further enhanced with A.P. Moller-Maersk Group joining as an indirect shareholder of South China Oceangate Terminal,” COSCO Pacific said in a statement.