CSX begins operating Yantai port
Hong Kong port operator CSX World Terminals yesterday formed a joint venture with the Yantai Port Authority to operate a container terminal in Shangdong province.
CSX will today start managing the 800 million yuan (about HK$751.04 million) phase III development at the port of Yantai and will own 50 per cent of the project. The authority is the other shareholder. Phase III began operations in June.
The joint venture, which comprises two berths and quay length of 573 metres, an alongside draft of 14 metres and access channel depths of 15 metres, and 10 quayside and rail-mounted yard cranes, will be operated by CSX.
CSX senior vice-president Bill McHugh said Yantai port had the potential to capture market share in the intra-Asia trade, which traditionally utilises smaller vessels than its deep-sea counterparts such as the transpacific.
'The terminal facility is at one of the fastest-growing container markets in Asia. Shangdong province is close to Japan and Korea, a location that is ideal for an export-oriented economy,' he said at the signing ceremony yesterday. Yantai port director Zhu Yi said the new phase, with its one million teus (20-ft equivalent units) annual handling capacity, served as another gateway for northern China.
It would be complementary to the port of Qingdao, its neighbouring city, while also competing with it, he said.
'Our port is linked to the Shangdong Expressway. There's also a railway at the back of our port which connects us to every part of the province. Shangdong is our natural hinterland. But the exports from inland China also need a gateway to go overseas,' Mr Zhu said.
Throughput at Yantai reached 160,000 teu last year, but Mr Zhu said he expected that to grow to 200,000 this year.
