Container leasing and port investor Cosco Pacific Ltd said its joint venture with Singapore's PSA International and APM Terminals had increased their investment to 3.8 billion yuan ($470 million) for buying four new berths in China's north-eastern city of Dalian.
That compared with the original investment of 240 million yuan in the venture company, Dalian Port Container Terminal Co Ltd, when it was formed in 2004.
Dalian Port agreed to buy berths No 13 to 16 of Dalian Dayaowan Phase II by stages, Cosco said in a statement published on its Web site on Wednesday.
Cosco Pacific has a 20 percent in the venture, the same as APM, a unit of Danish shipping giant A.P. Moeller Maersk.
State-owned PSA owns 25 percent of Dalian Port and Dalian Port Container Co Ltd has the balance of 35 percent. Dayaowan Phase II has a total of six berths and the venture company is the operator of the first two berths, No 11 and 12, by way of leasing.
The four new berths have total designed annual capacity of 2.1 million 20-foot-equivalent units (TEU) and are capable for handling super post Panamax vessels, when construction is completed by the end of 2008, it said.