China Shipping Buys Stake in APM's Zeebrugge Terminal

China Shipping Terminal has agreed to acquire a 24 percent stake in APM Terminals Zeebrugge. It is the second Chinese company to partner in the Danish operator’s container terminal in the Belgian port.

The companies said they expected to finalize the deal by the end of June.

A.P. Moller-Maersk’s port arm currently owns 75 percent of the Zeebrugge terminal, with Shanghai International Port Group holding a 25 percent stake acquired in 2010.

The deal with Shanghai-based China Shipping Terminal “will certainly lead to a stronger position for our terminal in the Le Havre-Hamburg [port] range,” said Mark Geilenkirchen, Managing Director of APM Terminals Zeebrugge.

The APM terminal accounted for 380,000 20-foot-equivalent units of Zeebrugge’s total container traffic of 2.2 million TEUs in 2012.

Europe’s fifth largest port, Zeebrugge has a natural deep water draft that can accommodate the latest generation of container ships.

China Shipping Terminal, a subsidiary of China Shipping Group, has holdings in 13 port facilities in mainland China, as well as stakes in terminals in Los Angeles and Seattle and Damietta, Egypt. Its total throughput measured by equity share was 7.8 million TEUs in 2011.