CHINA Merchant Holdings (International) saw cargo volume in the first four months of this year surge by 160 per cent over the same period in 2005, boosted by business at Shanghai's Yangshan Port, the Shenzhen-based company has announced.

According to a report in Hong Kong's The Standard newspaper, company chairman Fu Yuning said that brisk cargo business at five new berths at Yangshan Port has enhanced the performance of the company, mainland China's leading public port operator. The company acquired a 30 per cent stake in the port for CNY5.6 billion (US$698.02 million) in December 2004.

Speaking after China Merchants' annual general meeting in Hong Kong on May 26, Dr Fu said that the port should see double-digit growth this year. Cargo volume for the first of its four phases would reach three million TEU this year, 20 per cent more than originally projected.

Over one million TEU has been handled at Yangshan since starting operations last December, Dr Fu said, and was on target to meet its annual goal of three million TEU by the end of the year.

By then the second phase of the port, comprising four berths, is also expected to be ready. It will have an expected annual cargo handling capacity of 2.5 million TEU, The Standard report says.

Hutchison Port Holdings and Maersk's APM Terminals will each take a 32 per cent stake in the second phase, while Shanghai International Port Group, which China Merchants has a 30 per cent share in, will own the remaining 16 per cent. Shareholders will have operational rights for 50 years.

Financial details regarding the final two phases of the port, scheduled to be completed in 2010, are not yet available. By the time they are operational, it is anticipated that Yangshan's total cargo handling capacity will be 15 million TEU.

Dr Fu added that this month's reduction by the port, by as much as 50 per cent, of the transshipment fee for cargo routed between the Yangtze River and the sea was aimed at attracting more vessels from North America and Europe.