Global container transportation and logistics group, Neptune Orient Lines Limited (NOL), has announced that it has entered into an agreement with SITC Group (SITC) to form a 50:50 joint venture company to build and operate a container terminal in the port of Qingdao in northern China. The joint venture will develop a container handling facility in Qingdao in accordance with a terminal concession awarded to SITC in 2005.

Both NOL's liner shipping arm, APL, and SITC will contribute substantial container volumes to the new facility, once it is operational.

NOL Group President & CEO, Thomas Held, said: "At NOL we are actively seeking to expand our network of strategic terminal assets into new geographies in response to customer demand. This is a significant step forward in extending our container terminal business. We are very pleased to have entered into this partnership with SITC to develop a terminal in a location that will be the future hub for our northern China operations."

Qingdao is China's third-busiest container port and is strategically located near the southern entry to Bohai Bay. It is already an important hub for the range of line haul and feeder shipping services operated by APL.

NOL and SITC will now proceed with detailed planning and engineering work for the construction of a container terminal facility at Qingdao.

NOL Group currently operates a network of seven terminals globally – four on the west coast of the United States at Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle and Dutch Harbo r, Alaska; two in Japan at Yokohama and Kobe; and one at Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In addition, NOL Group has joint venture interests in terminals at Laem Chabang in Thailand and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.