JOC Staff | Feb 22, 2013 10:13AM EST
APM Terminals today finalized an agreement to operate a new container and general cargo terminal at the Port of Petkim on Turkey’s Aegean coast.
A.P. Moller-Maersk’s port unit will make an initial investment of $400 million in the Aegean Gateway Terminal under a 28-year concession starting in the summer of 2015 when the facility begins operations with an annual capacity of 1.5 million 20-foot equivalent units.
The Danish company’s partner and owner of the port, Petkim Petrokimva, will construct the terminal under APM’s technical and operational specifications.
The Port of Petkim is located in a petrochemical complex in Nemrut Bay close to Izmir, Turkey’s second-largest industrial city with a population of 4 million. The Aegean hinterland has a population of 9.8 million, according to APM Terminals.
“With current market utilization already at 90 percent, the area needs more port capacity to service growth,” the company said.
APM Terminals plans to develop the Izmir area into a key strategic logistics center, company CEO Kim Fejfer said.
The initial 1.5 million-TEU capacity of the 15.5-meter-deep Aegean Gateway Terminal is 50 percent more than that of Izmir’s Alsancak port. Container traffic in the region is driven by industrial goods, consumer imports and agricultural exports.
Petkim Petrokimva, which is listed on the Istanbul Stock Market, is a subsidiary of Socar Turkey Enerji AS, the state oil company of Azerbaijan.