Hutchison wins Fos 4XL

The supervisory board of the port of Marseille Fos authority has approved Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) as operator to develop its future Fos 4XL container terminal.

This move confirms the conclusion of a call for proposals process launched in February 2008, when the Port of Marseille Fos issued a tender call for the development of the new Fos 4XL container terminal.

The port authority said executive management was convinced by HPH’s “Twin Hub” concept. Fos 4XL will be developed by HPH Northern Europe as a “Twin Hub in the Med” of its Rotterdam facilities, linked to its “sister terminal” by a comprehensive multimodal network.

“This green and state-of-the-art terminal will support an ambitious strategy of Euro-Mediterranean consolidation” said Port of Marseille Fos officials.

Featuring a 1,200-metre quay and 75ha of yard space, the €600m investment will bring additional capacity of a minimum of 1m teu in Marseille Fos.

Details of the Fos 4XL operating concession will be discussed in the coming months. Construction and operation of the new terminal will be aligned with market demand and it is not expected that Fos 4XL will start commercial operations before 2017/2018.

(Source: Cargo Systems)