Yusen to set terminal in China

Yusen to set terminal in China

TOKYO: Nippon Yusen KK is set to build and operate a harbor terminal to facilitate automobile distribution to and from China at the port of Dalian in Liaoning Province, as part of a joint venture with the city's harbor bureau and China Ocean Shipping Co. (COSCO), the largest shipping firm in the country, sources close to the matter said, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in its Sunday edition.

Due to start operation in 2006, the terminal will have a capacity to load and unload more than 500,000 finished vehicles a year.

The partners will set up a joint venture to pursue the project by the end of this year. The concern will be 40 percent owned by an investment firm affiliated with the Dalian harbor bureau and 30 percent each by Japan's largest shipping company and COSCO.

Besides loading and unloading vehicles, the joint firm will operate a bonded warehouse and arrange vehicle distribution before and after loading/unloading. The terminal will have a wharf capable of simultaneously handling two ships, each carrying 6,000 vehicles.

The move reflects China's growing deregulation of foreign business activities in the services sector following the country's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001.

With the project, Nippon Yusen wants to take advantage of the growing demand for transporting cars made locally as well as those being imported into China.

The company is involved in a similar joint venture at the port in Shanghai, but its equity stake there will likely be surpassed by its holdings in the upcoming project in Dalian. --Dow Jones