OREANDA-NEWS. December 26, 2007. National Container Company (NCC) and EUROGATE signed an agreement provided for strategic partnership and cross-participation in container terminals in Ust-Luga (Baltic Container Terminal, BCT) and EUROGATE Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven (JadeWeserPort).

As per the terms of the agreement, EUROGATE is to take over 20% of shares in BCT and get the right to be represented in the Board of Directors as well as to invest in accordance with terminal construction and development program.

In return, NCC has an option to buy 18.2% of shares in EUROGATE Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven which has to be exercised before 30th of June 2008.

"Being chosen as a strategic foreign partner for the most important terminal project in Russia is a huge success for us", Thomas Eckelmann, president of EUROGATE, said. "It's of great importance for EUROGATE to ensure that its network of container terminals in the Baltic region covers Russia which is a rapidly growing market. Our co-operation will contribute to continual increase of cargo flow between container terminals in Russia and Germany", Mr. Eckelmann added.

President of NCC, Alyona Ashurkova, commented that "the main goal of NCC is to create opportunities in the field of contemporary logistics and ensure sufficient terminal capacity for continual growth of container throughput in Russia. The agreement with EUROGATE is an important element of NCC's development strategy and it creates a solid base for a long term partnership with the leading European terminal operator whose expertise will be of high value to NCC".