Hong Kong (AsiaNews/SCMP) Evergreen Marine, a Taiwan-based company, has sealed its first port investment on mainland China, agreeing to take a 50 per cent stake in a US$ 250 million, two-berth container port planned for Ningbo.
The agreement with the Ningbo Port Group represents a breakthrough in cross-strait infrastructure and communications investment.
Direct shipping links across the Taiwan Strait remains however banned because of continuing tensions between the mainland and Taiwan.
"We signed the contract in Hong Kong on Monday," Ningbo Port president Li Linghong said. "The construction of the project has received approval from the central government and will be completed in June."
Mr Li is a member of the Zhejiang province investment delegation visiting Hong Kong.
Evergreen's investment in Ningbo is being routed through its Italian shipping line, Lloyd Triestino. According to Mr Li, the agreement was signed by representatives of Lloyd Triestino's Hong Kong office.
Neither the Italian company Hong Kong management nor Evergreen in Taipei has made any public comment about the agreement.
It is not clear though whether Evergreen needs to secure Taiwan government approval for the investment.
Evergreen's investment is one of three contracts the Ningbo Port Group expects to seal in Hong Kong this week. Container shipping line Orient Overseas (International) Ltd (OOIL), controlled by the family of Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, and Hutchison Whampoa, which belongs to magnate Li Kashing, are also expected to sign agreements in Hong Kong today.
Hutchison was the first private investor to gain a foothold in Ningbo where it operates three berths along a 900-metre shoreline.
OOIL will acquire 20 per cent of a five-berth project on the shoreline of Chuangshan with an investment of US$ 650 million. Ningbo Port and several other investors will hold the rest.
The rapid development of Ningbo port, a natural deepwater facility in the Yangtze River Delta, has stirred concern over regional competition as Shanghai municipal authorities build the massive US$ 18 billion Yangshan Port project in neighbouring Zhoushan.
Credit Suisse First Boston chief regional economist Tao Dong warned last month of overcapacity in the port sector in a few years.