NOL opens Qingdao container terminal

NOL opens Qingdao container terminal Qingdao, the Singapore-based parent of liner carrier APL said.
   Originally expected to open in the second half of 2011, the joint venture container terminal opened for business well ahead of schedule. NOL and SITC International Holdings Co., a China-based shipping and logistics company, in May formed a partnership with Qingdao Qianwan United Container Terminal Co. to operate the terminal.
   NOL said the terminal will primarily serve vessels operated by APL and SITC. The inaugural call at the terminal was made Wednesday by the APL Dubai, a 6,574-TEU vessel on APL’s West Asia Express service.
   APL makes more than 200 port calls annually at Qingdao, China’s fifth-largest container port and the largest in the north of the country. The terminal has annual capacity of 1.5 million TEUs, with seven post-Panamax ship-to-shore cranes and 16 rail-mounted yard gantry cranes.
   APL also operates marine terminals at Kaohsiung, Kobe, Yokohama, Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle and Dutch Harbor, Alaska. NOL also has investments in terminals in Vietnam and Thailand, and in Rotterdam World Gateway, the first container terminal of the Maasvlakte 2 port development in Rotterdam, under construction.