ECT rejects report of MSC stake
ECT, Rotterdam’s biggest container terminal operator, denied reports that ocean carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co. acquired a significant stake in its largest facility, the Journal of Commerce reported.
A Dutch paper said Switzerland-based MSC has acquired a 49/50 percent stake in ECT’s Delta terminal to handle its growing traffic at Europe’s largest box hub.
But ECT spokesman Rob Bagchus said there is no truth in the report, which comes amid growing concern that Rotterdam faces a glut of capacity when new terminals come on stream in the next three years.
ECT, a unit of Hong Kong’s Hutchison Port Holdings, could lose up to a quarter of its revenue in 2013, when four major customers - CMA CGM, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Mitsui OSK and APL – move to the new Rotterdam World Gateway terminal.
The four carriers are shareholders with Dubai-based terminal operator DP World in the $1.5 billion facility being built on the Maasvlatke, a large tract of land reclaimed from the North Sea.
Rotterdam’s capacity will swell further in 2014 when APM Terminals, a unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk, is scheduled to open a 4.5 million TEUs-a-year terminal on the Maasvlakte.
ECT, which has three deep-sea terminals, accounted for more than 7 million TEUs of the 11.1 million TEUs shipped through Rotterdam in 2010.
MSC is seen as a potential partner for ECT as it builds up its presence in Rotterdam alongside its major European port, Antwerp, where it has a 50 percent stake in the 4.5 million TEUs-a-year Home Terminal in partnership with Singapore’s PSA.
MSC, the world’s second largest carrier, reportedly increased its Rotterdam traffic from 100,000 20-foot equivalent units to around 700,000 TEUs in the past few years and could ship as much as one million TEUs through ECT to fill the gap left by the departure of the four carriers in 2013.
Thanks to the deepening of the river Scheldt MSC’s recently commission 14,000 TEUs ship can call at the inland port of Antwerp. But the carrier is said to be keen to establish a presence in Rotterdam because it can easily handle even larger vessels.
Privately-held MSC said in January that it is prepared to sell a large minority stake in its terminals business at the right price.
A Dutch paper said Switzerland-based MSC has acquired a 49/50 percent stake in ECT’s Delta terminal to handle its growing traffic at Europe’s largest box hub.
But ECT spokesman Rob Bagchus said there is no truth in the report, which comes amid growing concern that Rotterdam faces a glut of capacity when new terminals come on stream in the next three years.
ECT, a unit of Hong Kong’s Hutchison Port Holdings, could lose up to a quarter of its revenue in 2013, when four major customers - CMA CGM, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Mitsui OSK and APL – move to the new Rotterdam World Gateway terminal.
The four carriers are shareholders with Dubai-based terminal operator DP World in the $1.5 billion facility being built on the Maasvlatke, a large tract of land reclaimed from the North Sea.
Rotterdam’s capacity will swell further in 2014 when APM Terminals, a unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk, is scheduled to open a 4.5 million TEUs-a-year terminal on the Maasvlakte.
ECT, which has three deep-sea terminals, accounted for more than 7 million TEUs of the 11.1 million TEUs shipped through Rotterdam in 2010.
MSC is seen as a potential partner for ECT as it builds up its presence in Rotterdam alongside its major European port, Antwerp, where it has a 50 percent stake in the 4.5 million TEUs-a-year Home Terminal in partnership with Singapore’s PSA.
MSC, the world’s second largest carrier, reportedly increased its Rotterdam traffic from 100,000 20-foot equivalent units to around 700,000 TEUs in the past few years and could ship as much as one million TEUs through ECT to fill the gap left by the departure of the four carriers in 2013.
Thanks to the deepening of the river Scheldt MSC’s recently commission 14,000 TEUs ship can call at the inland port of Antwerp. But the carrier is said to be keen to establish a presence in Rotterdam because it can easily handle even larger vessels.
Privately-held MSC said in January that it is prepared to sell a large minority stake in its terminals business at the right price.
