The Antwerp Port Authority will lease its third riverside container terminal - the first to be constructed at its left-bank facilities - to a joint venture of Swiss Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) and Antwerp operator Hessenatie.
The fourth Scheldt container terminal, the construction of which is planned to run almost simultaneously with the third terminal, will go to a Antwerp operator to handle the consolidated CP Ships services.
MSC has chosen Antwerp as its main hub in the highly competitive container handling market of West Europe; CP Ships has decided to relocate the services of its Cast subsidiary to Antwerp, which it also serves with subsidiaries Canada Maritime, Lykes Lines and Contship.
The third Scheldt container terminal will cover 56 hectares and makes up the first phase of a giant tidal container dock which will feature four large terminals along five kilometres of deep-water quays.
When complete the dock will boost the port's handling capacity by 3.2 million teu (20 ft equivalent units).
Of the four candidates, APA decided in favour of the MSC Hessenatie combination for several reasons, the most obvious being that MSC is the port's premier customer, accounting for 25 per cent of its overall container traffic.
MSC appears set to pass the one million teu mark in Antwerp in the next few years.
