Shanghai: Nanjing Port Authority has selected logistics giant Sinotrans ahead of Cosco to revamp the river port. A letter of intention has been signed between the two bodies this week whereby Sinotrans will pump in cash, the authority will restructure, corporatise and become Nanjin Port Group Co. Ltd, with the logistics player taking an unyet specified stakes in the new port body. Sinotrans already has some previous working experience with the port, having a 10% stake in a new container terminal there. Moreover. Sinotrans' merger with Changjiang Shjipping Corp has given the Beijing headquartered logistics conglomerate a tanker firm in the river city, Nanjing Tanker Corporation.
An official from Sinotrans revealed the company was looking to accelerate its Yangtze footprint. "We are planning to establish three shipping hubs in the Yangtze river basin," the source said. The first one is Wuhan port starting the major cooperation last October, the second is Nanjing port and the third one will be Chongqing port.
Nanjing port said in a statement that the major shareholders of Nanjing port and Sinotrans will sign a specific agreement in six months, otherwise the letter of intention will be terminated.
Nanjing sits on the north side of the river, approximately 275km inland from Shanghai. As the Yangtze, China's longest river, has been dredged repeatedly over the past decade, the city has been able to accept ever larger ships. A quarter of all boxes on the Yangtze transit through Nanjing and the blueprint for the port sees terminals capable of handling 6m teu in the coming years. [06/01/10]
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