EUROPE

NORTON ROSE CLOSES SECOND DEAL

21 years ago

Gdansk will see a € 180m programme of development, after law firm Norton Rose closed its second port deal in a year with arranger DVB Bank AG. The new deepwater container terminals extension and operation will be overseen by a new management team chosen by the Gdansk Authority. The terminal is to be fully independent of the port itself, and will be managed on a standalone basis.

The new Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) terminal being developed adjacent to the port’s largest container terminal facility, operated by Maritima Valenciana, is expected to commence operations in June/July 2006 and the unofficial word on the street is that Maritima Valenciana will operate this facility on behalf of MSC. Given the large volume of traffic that MSC now moves through the Maritima Valenciana facility and the inevitable movement of containers between the two facilities that will take place, especially in the start-up phase of the MSC terminal, this arrangement makes a lot of practical sense.

The tenancy agreement provides an initial 30-year term with an additional renewal period of 30 years. The transaction was led out of the Frankfurt office of Norton Rose, Frankfurt being home to the headquarters of DVB Bank AG.