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Cosco Pacific, one of the leading port operators in the world,  yesterday said it had acquired a 20 per cent stake in  the Suez Canal Container Terminal for US$146 million, following investments in Antwerp and Singapore in the past two years.
The  Egyptian terminal is located in the Suez Canal off the eastern Mediterranean Sea and is a key point in the Asia-Europe trade route.
The port, which opened in October 2004, has an annual capacity of 2.55 million 20-foot equivalent units (teu). After completion of its Phase II construction  in 2011, the port will be able to move 5.1 million teu.  It is expected to handle 1.75 million teu this year.
Cosco Container Lines, a sister company of Cosco Pacific, will call at the East Port after the investment takes place.
'The contribution of this project [to Cosco's profit] depends on how many new services Cosco Container Lines will offer there,' said Anderson Chow, infrastructure analyst for Macquarie Research.
Maersk, the largest shipping line in the world, owns a majority stake in the port.
Earlier this year, Cosco Pacific had acquired stakes in three  domestic ports, namely Hainan, Fuzhou and Yangzhou.  It also raised its stake in Quanzhou to the majority level.
Cosco Pacific reported a 14 per cent rise in third-quarter profit due to strong gains in its container terminal division. The company posted net income of US$93.99 million for the three months to September, up from US$82.63 million a year earlier.
Shares  of Cosco Pacific closed at HK$22.35, up  0.7 per cent yesterday.
Separately, billionaire Li Ka-shing has sold HK$1.29 billion worth of shares in China Cosco Holdings since the beginning of this month, cutting his stake in the shipping firm to 10.83 per cent from 12.27 per cent.
Mr Li sold 14.5 million shares at HK$36.20 on November 1 and sold another 22.5 million shares at HK$33.90  the next day,  the Hong Kong stock exchange website shows.
Shares of China Cosco rose 2.7 per cent to HK$31 yesterday.



Cosco Pacific acquires 20pc of Suez terminal