On June, 29^th, a ceremony was held on Qianwan phase Ⅳ terminal to announce the opening of Qingdao New Qianwan Container Terminal Co, LTD co-invested by QQCT and Pan Asia Shipping and also to celebrate the success of the “test berthing & loading/unloading evaluation” of berth 5 and berth 6 of Qianwan Phase Ⅳ.

     Among the distinguished guests who presented the ceremony are Mr. Xu Lirong, vice President of Cosco, Mr. Zhang Daqian, GM of DP World China region, Mr. Martin Gaard Christiansen, President of Maersk Terminal Asia-pacific region, Mr. Zhang Qingqiu, President of Pan Asia Shipping, Mr. Chang Dechuan, Chairman & President of QPG, Mr. Wang Luncheng, Party Secretary of QPG and also leaders from the municipality, customs, CIQ and representatives from shippers, forwarders, construction & inspection companies. The ceremony was also extensively and positively covered by the media.

     QQCTN is a joint venture co-invested by QPG, DP World, COSCO, Maersk, and Pan Asia Shipping, a five-party-from-three-nation enterprise, who is in charge of the development, operation and management of Qianwan Phase Ⅳ terminal. With a total investment of 1.4 billion us dollars and initial investment of 420 million us dollars, QQCTN was approved by National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce in this January and obtained its business license on Feb. 6^th. Ten berths of Qianwan Phase Ⅳ under one management will to the largest extent lower the running costs, enhance efficiency, and realize the integrated utilization of Qianwan Phase Ⅳ resources. Qianwan Phase Ⅳ project, a key project of the 11^th five-year plan, with a waterfront of 3408 meters and berth depth of -20meters, was designed according to the leading edge designing theory and will be equipped with duel hoists tandem lift QCs with 70-meter outreach and 100-tons lifting capacity and also electric gantries. The overall terminal with digital operation system is the most advanced alongside terminal and the opening of QQCTN will definitely promote the development of container transport in Qingdao.

     This ceremony marks the formation of a strategic alliance among five parties-QPG, DP World, COSCO, Maersk, and Pan Asia Shipping. Despite the severe global recession, the other four shareholders firmly expanded their cooperation with QPG, which would leave us in a solid position to ride out this crisis and push forward the development of container transport industry in Qingdao.