Maersk and Vale Secure Space at Ningbo-Zhoushan

Chinese Ningbo-Zhoushan port and shipping conglomerate A.P. Møller Mærsk Co have signed an agreement to expand cooperation and accelerate joint development projects.

According to the agreement, the port and Maersk will establish comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and deepen cooperation mainly in port-shipping business, terminal operation, logistic projects, personnel training and communication.

The port said that it will be appointed as the key transfer and distribution center for Maersk Line in Northeast Asia. The parties will jointly operate No. 3 to No. 5 berths of Meishan Phase I container terminal project, and establish all-round cooperation in logistics by setting up Maersk logistic base in the port.

Additionally, Ningbo-Zhoushan port and Brazil-based mining company Vale have decided to further extend their cooperation in iron ore logistics as the company plans to start using the port’s Beilum ore terminal for its ore blending operations from March 2016.

The move comes in the light of Vale’s recently conducted site inspection at the Beilun ore terminal, as the company plans to start doing business at the port’s Shulang Lake ore transfer terminal as soon as it qualified for ore blending.

Through their cooperation, the company and the port, which owns 3 of 7 berths in four ports able to receive and berth 400,000-dwt ships, should provide loading and unloading of ore, storage and bonded warehouse, ore blending and distribution businesses.

Vale projects that its production capacity will increase to 450 million tons by 2018, while the company’s annual export to China has exceeded 200 million tons.