Mega port operators line up for Yangshan greenfield development

Mega port operators line up for Yangshan greenfield development    Five of the largest international port operators have made it to the shortlist of the Shanghai authorities to operate terminals at the new giant Yanshan offshore container terminal, Reuters reported.
   Shanghai International Port (Group) will finance the first phase of Yangshan on its own, and has invited port companies to bid to operate the next phases of the 15-million-TEU-a-year port project, China’s largest port project.
   Hutchison Whampoa (the owner of Hutchison Port Holdings), PSA, A.P. Moller-Maersk (operator of APM Terminals), Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (owner of P&O Ports), and COSCO Pacific are all on the shortlist, according to Reuters. A venture between Modern Terminals and China Shipping Group is also in the running.
   Reuters reported Gu Gang, director of Shanghai Tongsheng Investment (Group) Co. Ltd., as saying that Shanghai has cut its list of potential investors from over 20 companies that had expressed interest in investing in the project, which is expected to cost about 5 billion yuan ($604 million) to build, not counting the cost of land.
   Gu said Shanghai wants to bring in a consortium of international investors, and that winners would probably be chosen through negotiation, not bidding.
   The first phase of Yangshan, linked to the mainland by a new bridge, is expected to open in October or November. The port of Shanghai hopes Yangshan will become Asia’s next big transshipment container hub.