APM Terminals first customer for Rotterdam’s Maasvlakte 2 expansion

APM Terminals first customer for Rotterdam’s Maasvlakte 2 expansion    A.P. Moller-Maersk group affiliate APM Terminals has signed an agreement with the Port of Rotterdam Authority to operate a 4.5-million-TEU terminal at the future Maasvlakte 2 port expansion complex.
   The Hague, Netherlands-based APM will operate a terminal with a maximum size of 167 hectares. Plans for the large development could see an extra 8 million TEUs added to the port.
   In April last year, the Dutch port authority asked companies to officially apply if they wanted to be considered for a location on Maasvlakte 2 and reported interest from as many as 15 major international container terminal operators and container shipping lines.
   A contract with a “launching customer” was a precondition for the actual start of construction, planned for the beginning of 2008. “An important condition for the construction of Maasvlakte 2 has been fulfilled with this agreement,” APM and the port authority said.