COSCO signs Tianjin Container Terminal acquisition deal
SHANGHAI : COSCO SHIPPING Ports (Tianjin) and China Shipping Terminal Development Co. (CSTD) have signed the Tianjin Container Terminal (TCT) joint venture agreement and the articles of the association with Tianjin Port Holdings Co. and China Merchants International Terminals (Tianjin) on 24 November 2021.
TCT will perform the business registration procedures for the JV agreement and articles as soon as possible in order to complete all conditions precedent of the acquisition, while the completion of the acquisition and the disposal plans to take place at the same time in the near future.
Upon completion of the acquisition, COSCO SHIPPING Ports (Tianjin) and CSTD, which is also a subsidiary of COSCO, will hold 45% and 6% of the equity interests in TCT, respectively, and 51% in total.
TCT is located in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Economic Circle and is highly competitive in the Bohai Rim area, according to a statement.
COSCO said that the acquisition is in line with the company’s strategic planning, and it will further enhance the Group’s synergy with the OCEAN Alliance and continue to strengthen the Group’s leading position in the Greater China region.
It is expected to fully facilitate the development of TCT as an international shipping hub in Northern China by proactively optimising the operational efficiency of the shipping lines calling at TCT and promoting the synergy of the hub-and-spoke and transshipment networks in the Bohai Rim region, resulting in an increase in the Group’s market share and the development of a strategic hub port in Northeast Asia.
In recent years, Tianjin Container Terminal has accelerated the construction of a world-class green and smart hub port, explored new paths for the automation upgrade and transformation of traditional container terminals, and successfully solved a number of technical problems in the automation upgrade and transformation of container terminals, realised a fully automatic operation mode, and the full operation of the project started at the beginning of this year.