Investment agreement signed on management of Petkim port

Turkish petrochemical complex Petkim and one of the leading port operators in

the world and the Dutch APM Terminals company signed an investment agreement on Friday. APM Terminals belongs to the Danish company AP Moller-Maersk Group operating in various sectors of the economy, the press service of SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) informed Trend.

The signing ceremony was held in Copenhagen, attended by the prime ministers of Turkey and Denmark Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

Under the agreement, the Dutch company will provide long term services to the Petkim container port. According to the head of SOCAR Turkey Enerji and board member of Petkim, Kenan Yavuz, the agreement is the first step towards starting container operations at the port. "The container port at Petkim with an initial carrying capacity of 1.5 million 20-foot equivalent (TEU) has the potential to expand to four million TEU. So Petkim Port will be the largest integrated port in the Aegean region," Yavuz said.

An investment of $300 million will be made in the construction of the port. Petlim Limancılık A.Ş., which is wholly owned by Petkim, will complete the first phase of the investment process in 2015, when the port will be put into operation. The second part of the investment process will be completed in 2016.

The APM Terminals Company will have the right to manage the port for 28 years. Earlier Socar Turkey Enerji A.Ş and SOCAR International DMCC OGG purchased 10.32 per cent of stocks in Petkim, increasing their share to 61.32 per cent. 38.67 per cent of stocks are in free circulation on the Istanbul Stock Market.

Petkim Petrokimya Holding manufactures plastic packaging, fabric, PVC and detergents being the only Turkish producer of such products, a quarter of which are exported.—0—