Upon completion of the acquisition, Kao Ming Terminal will be owned 60 per cent by Yang Ming Marine, 30 per cent by the tripartite JV, and 10 per cent by Ports America Group.
The acquisition is subject to approval from Taiwanese authorities, but they are, according to sources, understood to in be in favour of the deal.
Kao Ming Terminal is Phase One of Kaohsiung`s Intercontinental Container Terminal and handled about 1.08 million TEU in 2011. Yang Ming Marine has a 50-year concession right to develop and operate the terminal under a total investment cost of NT$180 billion (US$620 million).
Two additional 100,000-tonne capacity berths are being built at the facility that will have a total area of 748,000 square metres on a quay length of 1,500 metres and a shore depth of 16.5 metres. Operations at two initial berths with a quay length of 960 metres and an annual handling capacity of 1.4 million TEU, started in January 2011.
China Merchants said that two further berths are expected to be operational by 2014, by which time the annual capacity of Kao Ming Terminal will increase to 2.8 million TEU, it said.