Hutchison, NYK in Dutch terminal deal

Hutchison, NYK in Dutch terminal deal Hutchison Port Holdings and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) have signed a share-swapping agreement through which HPH will become the majority shareholder of Amsterdam-based Ceres Container Terminals Europe B.V. (CTE).
   In exchange for the majority stake in CTE, NYK will have a minority stake in Europe Container Terminals (ECT) in Rotterdam.
   'The investment in CTE will help strengthen HPH's presence in Northern Europe through the addition of extra container-handling capacity. CTE's strategic location allows it to attract deep-sea and feeder traffic as well as inland traffic,' said John Meredith, group managing director of HPH, in a statement.
   'This agreement gives us the opportunity to enhance our cooperation with HPH while further tapping into HPH's network of Northern European ports,' added NYK Chairman Takao Kusakari.
   CTE is a holding company of two subsidiaries, Ceres Paragon Terminals (CPT) and Ceres Amsterdam Marine Terminals (CAMT). CPT includes three berths ' one 400-by-57-meter indented berth and two conventional berths with a combined length of 615 meters and a depth alongside of 15 meters. CPT also has an on-dock rail facility. CAMT is a roll-on/roll-off terminal which provides stevedoring services for automobile carriers and has a number of warehouses for the storage of cocoa.