Seattle has received a boost with China Shipping Lines signing a 30-year agreement with port authorities and SSA Terminals to use Terminal 30.
Terminal 30 will cover 78 acres and will be assembled by the port from the former terminals 25, 28 and 30 using an investment of US$120 million, to handle containerised cargo and ships with a capacity of up to 8,000 TEU, the Puget Sound Business Journal reports.
China Shipping currently shares Terminal 18 at the port with Cosco Container Lines, but is expected to move in spring 2009 when the new terminal opens.
Under the terms, China Shipping Terminals and SSA Terminals will be equity partners. But SSA will rub the terminal.
China Shipping Lines annually moves 97,000 TEU through Seattle, and has called at the port since 1999. Port CEO Tay Yoshitani said that China Shipping will double its volume during its first year of operation and could quadruple it by 2012, reported the Seattle Port Intelligencer.
The report noted that a lost deal between Mediterranean Shipping Co on a transfer from Terminal 18 to 30 at the end of 2007 resulted in a projected loss of 221,000 TEU.
SSA Terminals is a joint venture between Seattle-based stevedoring company SSA Marine Inc and Matson Container Lines, a domestic carrier to Hawaii that will also operate from Terminal 30.
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