APM Terminals, the port operating arm of Danish shipping and oil group A.P.
Moller-Maersk, has agreed to sell a 25 per cent stake in Xiamen Songyu Container Terminal, the company told Reuters on Tuesday.

The terminal on China's southeastern coast is a joint venture between APM Terminals and Xiamen Port Holding Group, whose Hong Kong-listed division is Xiamen International Port Company.

APM Terminals currently owns 50 percent of the container terminal venture, and said it would retain a 25 per cent stake.

"To help drive the consolidation process, we have estimated that it would be best to sell a 25 per cent stake," said head of APM Terminals' Asia activities, Martin Gaard Christiansen.

"If a consolidation process is carried through, there will be a better supply and demand situation," Christiansen said. Xiamen Songyu Container Terminal opened in September 2007 and has capacity of 1.8 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units).

APM Terminals has interests in more than 60 terminals world-wide and had revenues of $2.2 billion and a profit of $270 million in the first half of 2011.

In China, the company jointly owns or operates 10 container facilities at six ports (Dalian, Guangzhou, Qingdao, Shanghai, Tianjin and Xiamen) with total capacity of 31.8 million TEU. APM Terminals declined to disclose financial deals of the deal.-Reuters