13 Feb 2012 - APM Terminals and the Turkish Petkim Holding today signed an agreement to develop a large-scale container terminal at Petkim, a port area in the Nemrut Bay on Turkey's Aegean coast. Located near the better-known port of Aliaga, the Petkim terminal will serve as a satellite port for Izmir. About half a year ago, the companies had already signed a memorandum of understanding for the project (see related news).

According to the agreement, Petkim and APMT will create one of Turkey’s largest container and general cargo terminals. The companies will jointly invest between USD 350 and 400 M to develop a deepwater facility for large mainline vessels. The new terminal will be designed to accommodate ships of VLCS and ULCS dimensions and it will offer a depth alongside of 16 metres.

The first container terminal module is scheduled to come on stream in 2013 with a pier length of 350 metres. A second module of similar dimensions will be added in 2014. Together, modules one and two will provide annual handling capacity of 1.5 Mteu. The companies said that optional expansions, to be developed in line with future market demand, could further increase the terminal's annual capacity to up to 3 Mteu. Unlike many Turkish container terminals that entirely rely on trucking and feedering, the new Petkim terminal will be connected to the Turkish railway network.

APM Terminals will have the right to operate the port for a period of 28 years with an option to extend it by four years, until 2046. Besides the container terminal, APMT will also assume operations at the neighbouring Petkim general cargo terminal. General cargo operations are expected to start by the end of 2012, a year before the container berths come on stream.