COSCO Pacific Ltd said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (K-Line), Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation (Yang Ming), Hanjin Shipping Company Ltd.(Hanjin) and Europe Container Terminals B.V. (ECT) to jointly develop and operate Euromax Terminal in Maasvlakte at the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

ECT will hold a 51 pct stake in the joint venture while the other four parties will jointly hold a total of 49 pct, it said in a statement, noting that details of the cooperation will be subject to further negotiation.

Phase I of the Euromax Terminal, with an annual capacity of 2.3 mln TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units), is expected to commence operations in 2008.

Once the terminal is fully completed, the total handling capacity will amount to 5.6 mln TEU per annum.

Euromax Terminal is located at the port of Rotterdam, the busiest port in Europe and seventh-largest container port in the world. Rotterdam handled a total of 9.3 mln TEU of container throughput in 2005.