Shanghai is expected to overtake Hong Kong as the world's second busiest container port this year, helped by rising throughput at the multi-billion dollar Yangshan deep-water port, a senior port official said on Wednesday. The city port's container volume is expected to top 25.5 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) this year, lagging only Singpaore, whose volume is estimated to be 27.60 million TEUs this year, Xu Peixing, the director general of Shanghai Port Administration, told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry event.

He did not give a full-year estimation for Hong Kong, which moved 17.7 million TEU of goods in the first nine months, according to statistics provided by the Hong Kong Port Development Council.

Shanghai International Port (Group) Co, China's biggest port operator, controls the city port's major assets.

"Yangshan port has played a big role in boosting Shanghai's container volume," Xu said. "Its full-year container volume is estimated at 5.8 million TEUs."

Yangshan's capacity was at 4.3 million TEUs as of the end of 2006 when the first two phases were completed.

Construction of phase III of the deep water port is going smoothly, with 4 additional berths to be in place by the end of this year and 3 more by the end of 2008, increasing its total number of berths to 16, Xu said.

He added that phase III, which would push up the port's handling capacity to 15 million TEUs by 2012, remained open to outside capital but the name list of foreign investors has yet to be finalised.

He declined to name the potential investors. But local media has named Singapore port operator PSA International [PSA.UL] and French shipping company CMA CGMere as potential candidates, along with local players China Ocean Shipping Group (COSCO) and China Shipping (Group).

Shanghai had lacked a deep-water port before Yangshan was built. The project, with five phases in total, has attracted strong interest from overseas investors.

A.P. Moeller-Maersk and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. each hold 32 percent in Phase 2 finished in December 2006.