P&O, Tan Thuan to develop Ho Chi Minh City container terminal

P&O, Tan Thuan to develop Ho Chi Minh City container terminal    P&O Ports has entered into a joint venture with Tan Thuan Industrial Promotion Co. to build and operate a new container terminal in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City.
   P&O will own 80 percent of the Saigon Premier Container Terminal to which Tan Thuan, holding the remaining 20 percent, will grant 43-year concession rights.
   The estimated $224-million project will include the development of about 1,000 meters of quay line and 40 hectares of adjoining land. Total capacity for the terminal is expected to reach 1.5 million TEUs.
   “Development will be phased in line with demand growth, with the first two of four berths scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2008,” P&O said in a statement.
   The terminal will be located along the western shore of the Soai Rap River within the Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park, a 2,000-hectare development in Saigon South, about 10 kilometers by road from Ho Chi Minh City.
   P&O’s investment in the new terminal is subject to final regulatory approval by the Vietnamese government.
   Tan Thuan is a state-owned company established by the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee in 1989 to encourage foreign investment in Ho Chi Minh City, especially in the Saigon South area.