Bruce Barnard, Special Correspondent | Jun 28, 2012 10:27AM EDT
APM Terminals will open a new regional headquarters in Singapore in September to oversee its operations in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent and free its Shanghai office to focus on China and Japan.
A.P. Moller-Maersk’s port operating arm said the new headquarters will drive its effort to strengthen operations and infrastructure in “underserved” high-growth Asian economies.
The Asia-Pacific region accounts for nearly a third of containers (by equity share) handled in APM Terminals global port, terminal and inland services network.
The new headquarters “will enable us to focus on the terminals that we manage and operate in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, with the intent of continuing to improve our operational performance,” APM Terminals CEO Kim Fejfer said.
A dedicated team in the Shanghai office will solely focus on APM Terminals joint venture partners and the Chinese and Japanese markets and manage further expansion plans in China, said Henk Pedersen, CEO for the Asia-Pacific region.
APM Terminals has interests in 18 terminals in six Asian countries, which handled 10.6 million 20-foot equivalent units (by equity share) in 2011, representing nearly 32 percent of its total volume.
China and Japan accounted for 6.2 million TEUs, or 18.5 percent of total volume, while India, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, where APM exercises more operational control over port and terminal investments, handled 4.4 million TEUs.
Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.
