COSCO Pacific to buy 20% stake in Suez Canal Container Terminal

COSCO Pacific to buy 20% stake in Suez Canal Container Terminal

   COSCO Pacific Ltd. has agreed to purchase a 20 percent equity interest in the Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT) from A.P. Moller-Maersk subsidiary Egyptian International Container Terminal for an undisclosed amount.

   SCCT operates the Port Said East Port in Egypt. Operational since October 2004, the 600,000-square-meter Port Said East Port has 4 deep-water berths, with a quay length of 1,200 meters (3,937 feet) and a depth of 16.5 meters (54.1 feet).    Between October 2004 and October 2005, SCCT handled 550,000 TEUs.

   “With its outstanding geographic location at the northern entrance of the Suez Canal, the terminal has one of the most prominent locations in the Eastern Mediterranean and lies on the shipping lanes of all the major lines to and from Asia/Europe and Mediterranean Sea,” said COSCO Pacific, the Hong Kong stock market-listed affiliate of the China Ocean Shipping Co. group, in a statement.

   The acquisition is subject to approval by Egyptian authorities.