The Qingdao Port Authority said the contract for its stage-four expansion is to be carried out by a consortium of AP Moller Maersk of Denmark, P&O Steam Navigation Co of the UK and the state-run China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co. The same consortium signed a third-phase contract in July to jointly develop the US$877m, 10-berth project at Qianwan. The stage-four announcement was made a month after the city government said the contract had been awarded to CSX World Terminals of the US.
In the first half of 2003, Qingdao handled 2m teu, a year-on-year increase of 30 per cent. Last year it was the world's 14th largest container port.