Updated at 7.06pm: Hutchison Whampoa's international port investment arm said on Friday it will not take up an invitation to invest in the rapidly expanding port of Qingdao in northern China, according company sources.
Its decision comes a week after Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) group managing director John Meredith ended weeks of speculation by confirming the world's leading terminal development company was considering a stake in one of China's most promising facilities.
''HPH has comprehensively studied the port of Qingdao and we have decided not to take an investment in this location,'' an HPH spokesman said.
''We were asked by the Qingdao authorities to consider the port as an investment opportunity but we have now decided not to pursue the matter.''
Qingdao, which along with Tianjin is the coastal gateway to the Beijing's 20-million strong consumer market, gained international attention last year when it posted a comparative 25 per cent growth in throughput to 2.64 million teus (20-ft equivalent units). The jump saw it break into the world's top 20 ports in terms of containerised throughput and it followed that up in the first four months of this year with another 26 per cent rise. Hutchison's decision not to pursue the offer leaves it still missing the northern piece of its China port network. It has no terminals north of Shanghai.