DUTCH-based APM Terminals has taken 25 per cent of a 2.8 million TEU capacity container terminal in Ningbo, the gateway to eastern China and the Zhejiang province, with 75 per cent retained by Ningbo Port Group.

The 50-year concession covers berths 3,4 and 5 with its kilometre-long quay and 17.5 metres alongside in the Meishan Bonded Port Zone. It will be operational by 2015 to meet capacity demand expected to reach 80 per cent by the end of the year.

"This agreement creates important new port capacity needed for our customers in one of the fastest growing container markets in the world. We look forward to working closely with our partners in the Ningbo Port Group," said APM Terminals Asia-Pacific CEO Henrik Lundgaard Pedersen.

The port's proximity to Zhegiang province, the fifth largest export/import hinterland in China and the fourth largest economy, supports 95 per cent of its throughput from its burgeoning manufacturing which includes a wide product range from auto parts to cigarette lighters.

APM Terminals has also expanded terminals in Qingdao as well as in Apapa, Nigeria; Port Said; Luanda, Angola with new terminals at Pointe-Noire, in the Congo-Brazzaville; Santos, Brazil and Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico.