Leaders from Qingdao Port Group met with APM Terminals executives in The Hague to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the APM Terminals Vado, Italy, port project.

The MOU will create a new joint venture to invest in and work with other potential partners. Terms and investment amount were not disclosed.

APM Terminals Vado is a new terminal in northern Italy, which when opened in January 2018 will handle both containerized and liquid bulk cargoes. It will be integrated operationally with the existing 275,000 annual TEU capacity Vado Reefer Terminal facility, which was acquired by APM Terminals in August 2015.

The Italian government is providing $324 million for the project. APM Terminals is investing $162 million in the new terminal which will create 450 new jobs when operations commence. In 2014, the ports of northern Italy’s Liguria range, including La Spezia, Genoa, and Savona/Vado, handled a combined 3.5 million TEUs, representing an increase of approximately six percent compared with the previous year.

The Port of Qingdao, located in the Shandong Province on the Yellow Sea, is one of northern China’s major ports. Qingdao is the seventh-busiest container port in the world, and the fifth-busiest in China, with throughput of 16.6 million TEUs in 2014.