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  • Writer's pictureFirst Port Global (FPG)

APM Terminals Rotterdam - sale speculation

Rumours about the possible sale of APM Terminals’ straddle carrier-operated facility at Rotterdam’s Maasvlakte I are spreading

There is even talk of a potential buyer emerging, although this has been denied by APMT-R’s local spokesperson.


APMT-R currently handles around 2.5M TEU per year and has a nominal annual capacity of 3.25M TEU.


The conventional, straddle carrier-direct terminal, with around 600 staff, sits on the foot of the Delta Peninsula, where ECT launched its first Maasvlakte-based terminal in the early 1980s - Delta Multi User (DMU) on the Europahaven. The three other CTs on the Delta Peninsula are ECT’s DDN, DDE and DDW (Delta Dedicated North, East and West).


The 100-ha APMT-R facility has 13 STS cranes, five of which are 23-wide, and one barge-to-shore crane along 1,600m of linear quay wall. The CY has 2,250 plugs for refrigerated containers.

APMT-R currently handles around 2.5M TEU per year. (Photos: Provoice)
APMT-R currently handles around 2.5M TEU per year. (Photos: Provoice)

Speculation about a sale follows last week’s staff meeting, where it was the sole agenda item! APMT’s local spokesperson confirmed this to Algemeen Dagblad, which scooped this news.


The APMT-R site came into APMT’s hands in 1999, and the concession officially expired in 2015.


By 2025, it is forecast, phase 2 of APMT’s automated terminal at Maasvlakte-2 could be fully operational.


One seasoned Rotterdam port figure has suggested that ECT would be the most logical candidate to buy APMT-R, but that would seem to be a strategically-driven defensive action and would probably include non-2M Alliance (Maersk/MSC) third party business.


ECT abandoned straddle carrier-direct operations run when it sold DMU to APMT 20 years ago and, moreover, it has room for growth at its Euromax terminal. At the same time, more of its business for alliances whose members are shareholders of either APMT Maasvlakte II or Rotterdam World Gateway (RWG) will gradually leave ECT once second phases of the two MV-2 terminals are developed.


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