Mr Langford said mounting capacity constraints at SCT meant the project would go ahead regardless of whether Swire and Cosco joined in with the other two partners.

'We need to expand pretty soon. It takes 18 months to get another berth going so we have to press the button now if we are to avoid demand problems later,' he said.

Throughput at SCT already is approaching the terminal's design capacity of 500,000 teu (20 ft equivalent units) a year.

'We expect to push through 300,000 teu next year. We are on target to hit 200,000 teu this year,' Mr Langford added.

These forecasts are likely to be extremely conservative now that three major carriers, including P&O Nedlloyd, are beginning new services from Shekou.

'Cosco is starting services to Malaysia and Indonesia,' he said.

Zim, the Israeli shipping company, is set to trans-ship as much as it can through Shekou now that Zim American Lines, Zim Indochina Line and Zim Philippines Line have started, or are about to start, operating.

'They haven't set a date yet, but we are hopeful it could start next month,' Mr Langford said. It could lead to the exchange of 50,000 boxes a year.

Zim Philippines will begin calling at Shekou this month, providing direct shipping services to South Asia.

This follows the start of operations by two associate companies earlier this year.

On July 3, Zim American Lines started a trans-Pacific service using Shekou as its China port. The new service, which originates at Shekou, calls at Hong Kong, Pusan, Osaka and Yokohama before crossing the Pacific to Long Beach in California.

It then continues via Kingston, Jamaica, to New York and Halifax, and on to Barcelona in Spain and Haifa in Israel.

Two months previously, Zim Indochina Line started a service linking Shekou with Vietnam and Thailand, the first regular scheduled service between the two areas.

Mr Langford is still uncertain how much the arrival of P&O Nedlloyd will affect Shekou.

'Hopefully they will consolidate their south China activities and realise the importance of Shekou,' he said.

Other members of the Grand Alliance, which includes Hapag-Lloyd and Nippon Yusen Kaisha, have yet to decide on their future ports of call.

As a result, SCT has not included the group in its 200,000-teu estimate. Neither has SCT taken into account the effect the merger between American President Line and Neptune Orient Lines might have on operations.

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